Chapter 4 - The Subterranean Server Core-4
The air inside the concrete subterranean corridors beneath the Vanguard Tower downtown was suffocatingly hot, thick with the smell of old concrete, rusted iron girders, and the deep, industrial whine of a high-density server core operating on a stolen industrial power grid.
I sat in the passenger seat of Special Agent Harris’s high-performance tactical SUV, my hospital gown replaced by a plain gray cotton tracksuit, my hands clutching a warm cup of black tea to fight the residual tremors of my labor. I had refused to stay inside the hospital pavilion. The twins—sorry, my daughter Lily—was completely safe inside the base medical sanctuary under the protection of two armed federal marshals, and I was going to be the one who signed the master execution complaint against Sienna Voss.
"The time is 11:34 a.m., Claire," Agent Harris said, her eyes locked onto the dashboard monitor frame where a massive progress bar for the master database wipe was currently scrolling: TRANSMITTING BENNETT TRUST MASTER DEEDS TO NICOSIA: 14%... 17%... 19%...
"Sienna has locked herself inside the central disaster recovery center in the sub-basement of the annex wing," Harris explained, swerving the heavy vehicle through a flooded intersection near the shipping canal. "She’s utilizing a military-grade sixty-four-character alphanumeric encryption block to mask the diagnostic override. If that progress bar hits one hundred percent, the master boot sectors of every drive in your company's network are permanently overwritten with random garbage data, destroying the evidence of her wire forgeries and leaving your assets locked inside the Cyprus vaults forever."
"She won't finish the cascade, Harris," I said, my teeth clenched against the sharp, physical ache in my abdomen as the vehicle slammed to a halt in the dark parking garage. I grabbed a heavy steel demolition crowbar from the SUV’s rear utility chest, my gray eyes burning with a dangerous resolve. "My father designed the original network topology for this building twenty years ago. He built a manual mechanical override valve hidden inside the primary high-voltage intake vault near the canal locks. If we can cut the physical power feed before the clock strikes noon... her electronic detonator won't have the current to ignite the thermal self-destruct charges on the server racks."
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We sprinted through the shattered glass side doors of the loading dock, our boots clicking a rapid, lethal rhythm against the concrete floorboards as a dozen heavily armed FBI operators flooded the corridor, their tactical searchlights cutting through the humid gloom like the hand of God.
Standing in front of the dead terminal panel at the far end of the central server aisle, her expensive cream cashmere coat thrown over the back of a metal tool chest, her red nails flying across a mechanical keyboard with clinical precision, was Sienna Voss.
