Chapter 10 - The Broadcast
The heavy black helicopter hovered four feet above the concrete helipad, creating a chaotic vortex of wind and dust that made it nearly impossible to stand upright. Clara planted her feet firmly against the ground, ignoring the sharp spikes of pain lancing through her spine, and pulled the small black flash drive from her pocket.
"Vance! The communications relay terminal is over there!" Clara screamed over the deafening roar of the jet turbine, pointing toward a weathered metal utility box bolted against the brick wall of the rooftop stairwell housing.
Agent Vance grabbed her arm, shielding her body with his broad frame as they fought their way through the blinding slipstream toward the terminal box. The heavy steel door of the utility unit was locked with a digital keypad, glowing with a soft blue light against the dark brick wall.
Inside the hovering aircraft, Julian pressed his face against the cabin window, watching them with a manic intensity. He raised a hand, pointing frantically at the terminal box as he realized what they were attempting to do.
"The security code!" Agent Vance yelled, frantically tapping at the numeric buttons on the keypad, only for a sharp red light to flash instantly. Access Denied.
"Use my birth date combined with the hospital foundation year!" Clara shouted, leaning against the cold brick wall for support as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her.
Agent Vance rapidly punched in the sequence: 0-4-1-2-1-9-8-8.
With a satisfying mechanical click, the heavy steel door of the utility box swung open, revealing the blinking fiber-optic data ports inside. Clara lunged forward, shoving the black flash drive directly into the master uplink port.
Uploading Data Packets... 10%... 45%... 80%...
On the digital display, a green progress bar surged forward with terrifying speed.
"No! Stop them!" Assistant Attorney General Thomas roared from the cabin door of the helicopter, signaling the pilot to abort takeoff and land immediately. But it was already too late.
Upload Complete. Broadcasting to 4,200 Global Nodes.
A piercing digital tone echoed across the rooftop as the encrypted files exploded across the internet, instantly bypassing every corporate firewall, government restriction, and media blackout filter Julian and Thomas had spent millions constructing.
Julian slumped back against the aircraft seat, his face turning an ash-gray as he watched the glowing display screens inside the cabin light up with incoming emergency alerts from federal oversight boards.
Agent Vance let out a triumphant breath, turning to Clara with a fierce grin. "We did it. It's out."
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Suddenly, the heavy steel door of the rooftop stairwell burst open behind them with a violent crash. Three armed private security contractors rushed onto the roof, their assault rifles raised and leveled directly at Agent Vance’s chest.
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