Chapter 10
The sudden plunging into darkness was accompanied by a sickening, mechanical grind from the ceiling above. The fire suppression system’s main water valve hissed violently, releasing a dense, freezing mist that billowed across the concrete floor.
“Stay down, everyone!” Marcus ordered, sweeping his tactical flashlight across the room, its beam cutting through the thick artificial fog.
Elena pulled Clara and Leo close, shielding them with her own body as the temperature in the room plummeted. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the stairwell—not retreating, but advancing. Someone was coming down from the ground floor, moving with heavy, deliberate purpose.
“Marcus, watch the stairs!” Elena called out over the hiss of the water valve.
A tall figure emerged from the stairwell shadows, silhouetted against the dim emergency exit lights behind them. It wasn’t one of the hired goons. The silhouette was unmistakable: the sharp, tailored lines of an expensive evening suit, topped by the unmistakable outline of a silver-handled cane. It was Arthur Pendelton.
The lawyer stood casually at the edge of the mist, adjusting his glasses as if he were stepping into a corporate boardroom rather than a crime scene. A thin, cold smile played on his lips, completely unaffected by the handcuffs on the operatives or the roaring furnace behind him.
“Well, Detective Vance, Ms. Ross,” Pendelton said, his voice carrying clearly over the hissing steam. “It seems you’ve managed to create quite a mess down here. But you’re too late. The primary digital servers at the main office were wiped remotely three minutes ago. Everything you think you’ve uncovered is gone into the ether.”
“You’re bluffing, Arthur,” Elena said, slowly standing up while keeping Clara and Leo behind her. She reached into her pocket and touched the cold metal casing of the silver flash drive. “This drive was never connected to the main server. It’s an isolated, encrypted physical copy.”
Pendelton’s smile faltered for just a fraction of a second before hardening into something predatory. He raised his silver-handled cane slightly, and from the shadows behind him, three more men stepped out, dressed in tactical gear and holding heavy riot shields.
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“A physical copy is utterly useless, Ms. Ross, if you don’t leave this basement alive to present it,” Pendelton said coldly, gesturing to the tactical guards. “Take the drive and secure the children.”
Marcus stepped in front of Elena, raising his service weapon, but before he could fire, one of the guards deployed a high-pressure carbon dioxide canister directly into the mist, filling the room with a blinding white cloud that choked off their vision completely.
