Chapter 10
The heavy impact sent the guard sprawling violently against the control console, his finger missing the master circuit breaker by mere inches. Alarms flared louder as the terminal screen flashed a frantic amber warning, but the download progress bar kept marching upward: 74%... 81%...
"Get off me, you idiot!" the guard roared, spinning around and driving the butt of his sidearm hard into the vendor's ribs.
The vendor grunted, a sharp wave of agony rippling through his torso as he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air against the cold floor. The second guard immediately raised his weapon, pivoting his aim away from the girl and locking it squarely on the kneeling vendor's head.
"Don't move or I'll blow his brains across this terminal!" the second guard screamed, his finger tightening against the trigger.
"Stop! Don't shoot him!" the girl cried out, abandoning her post at the console and stepping directly into the line of fire, shielding the vendor with her small frame.
Victoria Sterling slowly walked forward, her expression devoid of any human empathy. She stopped just an inch away from the girl, looking down with icy disdain.
"You are a remarkably foolish child," Victoria murmured, her voice laced with venom. "You think a simple flash drive is going to bring down Sterling Global? Even if that file downloads, the moment you walk out of this building, my legal team will flag it as falsified corporate espionage. You'll be arrested before you even see the light of day."
The girl looked up into Victoria's cold, calculating eyes, a defiant smirk breaking through the dirt smudged across her face. "You forgot one crucial detail, Victoria."
"And what is that?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow in mild amusement.
"My father didn't just hide the files on a local server," the girl whispered, her fingers subtly tapping a final execution command into the console terminal behind her back. "The moment the download hits one hundred percent, an automated packet transmits every encrypted shell company record directly to the personal email of the federal prosecutor leading his appeal. And it's set to public broadcast."
The terminal screen flashed a brilliant, blinding green: 100% Complete. Transmission Successful.
May you like
Victoria's face instantly drained of all color. The icy composure shattered, replaced by sudden, raw panic. "Stop her! Shoot the console!" she shrieked, lunging forward herself.
Before the guard could pull the trigger, the entire server room plunged into absolute pitch darkness as the emergency lockdown protocols finally seized the main power grid, trapping them all in the cold, humming void.
