Chapter 10 - Darkness in the West Wing
The sudden drop into darkness was absolute. The soft hum of the overhead lights died instantly, leaving Room 404 illuminated only by the faint, eerie green glow of the wall camera’s indicator light and the dim blue screen of Maya’s smartphone.
"Stay behind me," Leo whispered, his hand instinctively reaching out to grab Maya’s sleeve as they backed away from the doorway where Eleanor’s silhouette loomed like a phantom in the dark.
"I can't see anything," Arthur muttered from the hallway side of the door, his flashlight clicking on with a weak, flickering yellow beam that barely cut through the dust motes hanging in the air. "The main breaker is jammed from the inside. She’s locked the pneumatic security bolts manually."
Inside the room, Eleanor’s voice echoed out of the shadows, cold and mocking. "You thought you could outsmart decades of institutional control with a cloud backup and a couple of student allies? This school is my domain. I know every creaking floorboard, every blind spot in the halls, every hidden exit you could ever dream of reaching."
Maya’s thumb raced across her phone screen, watching the upload progress bar freeze at ninety-eight percent. Ninety-eight percent. The network connection was struggling without the main power grid feeding the local routers. If the signal dropped completely, the transfer would abort, leaving them stranded in the dark with a desperate woman who had nothing left to lose.
"Keep the phone up high toward the window, Maya!" Leo urged, his freckled face illuminated by the harsh blue light of the screen. "The cell repeater is on the roof just above us!"
May you like
Maya raised her arm as high as she could, standing on the edge of her metal desk. Down in the basement, the struggle between Marcus and Superintendent Vance had reached a violent climax, the audio feed on Arthur’s tablet broadcasting the sound of breaking glass and heavy footsteps thundering up the concrete stairwell toward the west wing.
---
