Chapter 4 - The Blind Spot
Toby’s fingers flew across the keypad of the handheld signal jammer he had stolen from the audio-visual storage closet. The small LED screen on the device glowed an ominous amber, pulsing in time with the erratic blinking of the hallway lights overhead. He crouched low beneath the massive stairwell landing, just out of range of the newly reactivated camera twelve, though he knew it was only a matter of time before Marcus spotted him on the secondary feeds. His chest heaved with exertion, the gray zip-up hoodie damp with sweat against his back. He had to upload the encrypted files he had managed to copy from Sarah’s desk before the security team locked down the school network completely.
A heavy pair of boots echoed on the metal stairs above him. Marcus Vance Jr. was descending slowly, his police belt jingling with every step as he swept the sector with a heavy tactical flashlight. The beam of light sliced through the dim shadows of the stairwell, sweeping across the concrete floor just inches from Toby’s boots.
Toby held his breath, pressing his back harder against the cold cinderblock wall. He gripped the small device tighter, watching the progress bar on the tiny screen crawl painfully toward completion. Ninety-four percent. Ninety-five percent. The upload speed was throttling due to the interference he had intentionally caused, but it was working. He was transmitting the truth about what happened in Room 412 three years ago directly to an external server.
"I know you're down here, Miller," Marcus’s deep voice boomed down the stairwell, reverberating off the concrete walls. "Step out with your hands where I can see them. You're only making this worse for yourself and your teacher."
Toby remained silent, his eyes fixed on the progress bar. Ninety-nine percent.
The heavy beam of the flashlight suddenly illuminated Toby's face, blinding him in the darkness. Marcus stood at the bottom of the landing, his hand resting menacingly on the holster of his sidearm. His heavy-set frame blocked the only exit from the stairwell.
"Game over, kid," Marcus said, taking a slow step forward. "Hand over the device."
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Toby smirked, tapping the screen just as it hit one hundred percent. "Too late, officer. It's already public."
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