Chapter 9 - The Auxiliary Archive
Up in Room 404, Maya watched the tablet screen in absolute horror as the video feed from the basement control room showed Superintendent Vance launching himself across the desk at Marcus. The audio picked up the sound of a violent struggle—shouting, crashing equipment, and the tearing of fabric as the two men collided with the server rack.
"We have to help them," Leo whispered, his voice cracking with panic. He turned toward the door, but Eleanor moved faster, blocking the exit with her body and pulling a small set of brass office keys from her pocket to lock them inside.
"Nobody is leaving this room until I say so," Eleanor hissed, her professional composure completely shattered, leaving only a desperate, cornered woman willing to do anything to protect her accomplices. "You think you’ve won because of some digital files? You don't understand how deep this goes. The police, the local judges, the contractors—they are all tied into this network. You can't outrun a system that built the very roads you walk on."
"The system is broken, Mrs. Vance, and everyone can see it now," Maya said, her voice remarkably steady as she held up her own smartphone, which was currently syncing directly with Arthur’s industrial tablet. "The state investigator has an automated ping set for every five minutes. If we don't check in by four-fifteen, an automatic dispatch goes out to the state police with all decrypted files attached."
Eleanor checked her watch. The digital hands read 4:12 PM. Three minutes left.
A manic smile spread across Eleanor’s face. "Three minutes is a very long time in a closed building, Maya. Long enough for the power to experience a catastrophic failure."
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With a sudden, aggressive movement, Eleanor reached up and ripped the master circuit breaker panel off the wall beside the chalkboard, slamming her fist into the primary main switches and plunging the entire classroom wing into total, pitch-black darkness.
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