Chapter 5 - The Perimeter Breach
The quiet sanctuary of the cloakroom was abruptly shattered by the dull, heavy thud of a muffled explosion echoing from the distant service wing of the hotel. Victoria froze, her hands flying to her mouth, while Daniel’s head whipped toward the frosted glass window.
“What was that?” Daniel demanded, uncrossing his arms and stepping forward.
“A EMP pulse jammer,” Victoria whispered, panic flooding her eyes anew. “They aren’t waiting for the midnight transfer anymore. Arthur knew the moment the call dropped that I had failed. They’re locking down the entire block to seize the master drive physically.”
Daniel’s mind raced. His laptop, containing the sole offline backup of the company’s core encryption architecture, was locked inside the bridal suite safe two floors up. He reached into his tuxedo pocket, pulling out his primary phone. The screen was completely dead—no signal, no power. The jammer had effectively neutralized all local cellular and Wi-Fi networks within a half-mile radius.
“My house keys,” Daniel muttered, grabbing Victoria by the shoulders and shaking her slightly to focus her terror. “Where are Arthur’s men stationed? How do we get out of here?”
Victoria grabbed Daniel’s wrists, her fingers digging into his jacket sleeves.
“There is no escaping through the lobby, Daniel. Arthur’s head of security, a man named Henderson, is already securing the exits. He’s ruthless. He won’t leave witnesses,” Victoria warned, her voice trembling violently.
A sharp knock echoed on the cloakroom door, followed by the deep, metallic rasp of a master key turning in the lock. Daniel’s eyes darted around the small room, searching desperately for an alternate exit. The window was narrow, framed by heavy iron security bars meant to protect the hotel's lower-level asset storage.
“Victoria! Open the door. We know you’re in there,” a muffled, cold voice called out from the hallway.
Victoria backed away from the door, pressing her back against the vanity mirror, her hands shaking uncontrollably as she looked up at Daniel.
“Give me the hidden phone from the basket,” Victoria whispered quickly, extending her hand. “It’s encrypted on a closed-circuit frequency. It’s the only way to contact the internal federal cyber crimes unit I secretly tipped off three days ago.”
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Daniel stared at her, weighing the risk of trusting his betrayer against the certainty of execution outside the door.
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