Chapter 9 - The Protocol of the Vault
The phone line went dead with a soft, synthetic click, and instantly, the security control room’s primary lighting banks flickered and died. The emergency red backup strips hissed to life, casting long, crimson shadows across the walls.
“They’ve severed our municipal power feeds and routed a high-voltage overload into our transformer grid,” my deputy cursed, hammering away at the manual bypass keys. “If we don't trip the physical breakers in sub-level four, the servers will melt.”
I grabbed my tactical belt from the rack, locking my sidearm into its holster. “Stay here, run the manual firmware patch from the backup battery, and keep Alexander and Elena secure in the presidential suite. I’m going down to the sub-level vaults.”
“Boss, that’s where they’re broadcasting the signal from,” Vance warned over the radio. “It’s a trap.”
“It’s only a trap if you’re waiting to be caught,” I replied, stepping out into the darkened service corridor.
The descent down the back stairwell felt heavier this time. The air grew dense and metallic as I passed Sub-Level Three—where Elena had been held captive—and pushed deeper into the subterranean industrial zone that predated the modern city. The emergency red lights painted the concrete tunnels in a bloody hue, and the rhythmic hum of heavy machinery had been replaced by an eerie, artificial silence.
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As I approached the old master archive vault, the heavy iron door stood slightly ajar. A thin strip of white LED light spilled out across the wet concrete floor.
Somebody was already inside.
