Chapter 9 - The Digital Ghost
Breathing heavily, I stood up, wiping a smear of blood from my knuckles, and immediately grabbed the remote from Irene’s trembling hand.
“Are you okay?” I asked, pulling her into my arms and checking her over frantically.
“I’m fine, I’m fine—look at the screen!” she cried, pointing at my phone on the tray.
I snatched the phone. The live video feed from the mountain safehouse was still active, but the four tactical mercenaries on the screen had frozen. A red text box flashed across the video interface, displaying an incoming data packet from an unknown, untraceable IP address.
“Fascinating display of field combat, Colonel Wentworth. But you just broke rule number one: never fight the puppet when you haven't seen the puppeteer.”
A synthesized voice message began playing automatically through the phone’s speaker.
“What does that mean?” Irene asked, her eyes wide with terror.
Before I could answer, the video feed from the safehouse shifted. The cabin doors didn't explode with charges—instead, a bright, blinding white flash consumed the entire screen, followed immediately by complete static.
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The safehouse hadn't been blown up by a bomb. It had been wiped clean via a massive, high-voltage electromagnetic pulse (EMP) surge transmitted directly through the local power grid, instantly frying every server, hard drive, and backup array within a five-mile radius.
“They didn't want to destroy the evidence with fire,” I muttered, a cold realization washing over me. “They wiped it digitally. Every single backup file we had stored off-site… is gone.”
