Chapter 11: The Digital Strike
Dawn broke over the snow-covered Vermont mountains, casting a brilliant, blinding white light across the pine forest. Inside the stone cabin, the secure communications terminal hummed quietly as Professor Sterling finalized the encrypted data transmission protocol. Julian stood behind him, reviewing the destination coordinates for the Department of Justice’s elite white-collar crime division.
Maeve sat nearby, rocking Leo gently in a wooden armchair. The infant was recovering remarkably well, his cheeks regaining a healthy color under the care of proper nutrition and warmth.
"Transmission initiated," Professor Sterling announced calmly, his fingers dancing across the mechanical keyboard. A progress bar appeared on the dual monitors, inching steadily toward completion.
Julian glanced at his watch, feeling a knot of tension tighten in his stomach. They had evaded Marcus’s surveillance so far, but digital footprints were notoriously difficult to erase entirely. If Marcus’s cyber-security team intercepted the routing protocol, they would know their exact location within minutes.
"Ten seconds to completion," Sterling muttered, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Suddenly, the cabin’s power grid flickered violently. The overhead lights surged, dimmed, and then died completely. The hum of the computer terminal cut out, plunging the room into an eerie silence broken only by the emergency backup generator kicking in with a low, mechanical drone.
"What happened?" Julian demanded, stepping toward the desk.
Sterling frantically tapped keys on the darkened terminal. "A localized cyber-attack! They’re trying to intercept the packet stream and corrupt the local drive!"
On the monitor, the progress bar froze at ninety-eight percent. A red warning banner flashed across the screen: Connection Terminated.
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Maeve clutched Leo tighter, her breath catching in her throat. "Did it fail?"
Before Sterling could answer, the backup generator whined and died. The cabin was plunged into total darkness, save for the faint glow of the snowy landscape outside casting shadows through the windows. From the quiet country road outside, the crunch of heavy tires crunching over fresh snow echoed through the crisp air.
