Chapter 13 - The Countdown
"What is that?" Leo demanded, stepping away from the door and rushing over to the console.
"The director anticipated this backup relay," Clara said, her calm demeanor finally cracking as sweat beaded on her forehead. "He's running a remote wipe protocol from a secondary server farm in Washington. If the purge completes, all our evidence vanishes into the ether, and we'll be branded as rogue terrorists."
"Can you stop it?" Elena asked, her voice tight with panic as she clutched Toby closer.
"Not from this console," Clara said rapidly, typing a sequence of frantic commands. "The purge firewall is locked behind a physical hard-key override located in the auxiliary server room downstairs. Someone has to go down there manually and pull the master fiber-optic link."
Vance let out a bitter, humorless laugh from his corner. "The auxiliary room is flooded with nitrogen gas on command. Anyone who goes down there without a respirator will asphyxiate in less than ninety seconds."
Leo didn't hesitate. He handed his sidearm to Elena, pulling off his black suit jacket and tossing it onto the metal bench.
"Give me the bypass tool," Leo said, his voice absolute.
"Leo, no," Elena pleaded, tears spilling over her lashes. "You can't do this. If you don't come back..."
"If I don't go down there, we all die anyway," Leo interrupted gently, cupping her face with his tattooed hand for a brief, agonizing second. He looked over at Clara, who handed him a small, heavy-duty insulated pliers from her apron pouch.
"The master link is the blue fiber cable on rack four," Clara instructed, her eyes meeting his with fierce respect. "Pull it hard. Don't worry about the gas—you have about two minutes before the concentration hits lethal levels."
May you like
Leo took the tool, turned around, and pulled open the heavy steel door leading down to the dark subterranean server level just as the countdown clock on the main monitor ticked down to 75 seconds.
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