CHAPTER 11: The Map on the TableColter Burke set Duncan Briggs’s portable satellite case onto the wooden table in Room 304, which had been propped back on its legs. One of the table legs wobbled slightly, letting out a faint groan that clashed with the howling storm outside. In the corner of the room, the assistant prosecutor’s corpse lay stiff. It was covered by the remnants of a plastic tarp Ines had used to keep the blood from seeping under the corridor door. The darkness of the room masked the deep crimson fluid that had begun to dry, but nothing could mask the pungent, metallic stench of copper filling the air.Ines Mercer stood by the window, staring at a small hole in the outer iron bars. There, the glowing embers left by the second assault team's oxy-fuel torch still flickered, fighting against the driving rain. The heavy scent of burnt metal, ozone, and gunpowder hung thick, choking the air inside the cramped room. Every tick of the clock felt like a countdown to their execu

CHAPTER 13: His Grandfather’s Journal"VX-4 nerve gas," Ines Mercer said, her voice dropping to a low whisper as her hand held Colter back, keeping him from stepping even an inch off the freight elevator’s iron floor. "Your grandfather rigged these gas release canisters behind the gaps in the bookshelf walls. If you breathe in that green smoke just once, your lungs will paralyze before you can even cry for help."Colter stared at the thin cloud of green vapor as it began to crawl slowly across the room’s oak floorboards. The sting on his face from Duncan Briggs’s earlier strike still throbbed, but this new threat of death forced his brain to lock back into focus."There has to be an emergency abort code on this elevator control panel," Colter said, turning around to face the iron buttons inside the cage. Using the tip of his steel tactical pen, he pried open a small circuit cover beneath the floor numbers, exposing a row of colorful analog wires hooked into the fourth floor's main gri

CHAPTER 15: Digital IsolationColter’s words were proven right just a few seconds later. The dozen analog monitors lining the fourth-floor walls flickered simultaneously, flashing gray static waves before dying completely one by one. It wasn't just the monitors in the room; the incandescent bulbs on the ceiling went out too, plunging the fourth floor into pitch blackness in an instant."What happened? I didn't shut down the power from the cyber network!" Linus exclaimed, quickly opening his laptop screen, which was still running on backup battery power. His fingers flew across the keyboard, trying to identify the cause of the sudden, total electronic blackout.Ines Mercer switched on a small tactical flashlight from her pocket, sweeping its beam toward the main circuit panel in the corner of the room. "This isn't a short circuit from that gas line explosion, Colter. The power indicator reads absolute zero. They've intentionally cut off all external elect