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

CHAPTER 17: The Digital GhostBefore Colter and Ines could step out of Room 303, a loud burst of static suddenly came from Linus Floyd’s portable laptop in Room 302 across the hall. The sound of rapid mechanical keyboard typing echoed through the corridor again, followed by Linus’s terrified shout from his workspace.Colter and Ines ran through the smoke-filled hallway to check on the young hacker. Inside Room 302, Linus was slumped on the concrete floor, staring at the only laptop screen still on, running on backup battery power.The monitor was no longer showing lines of green apartment network code. Instead, it displayed an animation of a white theater mask smirking, with lines of blood-red text spinning over and over in the center of the screen."Hello, Linus. You can’t hide in this old cage forever.""He... he found my location, Colt," Linus whispered, his voice shaking. His fingers, stained with black soot, trembled as he pointed at the laptop screen."Who is he, Linus?" Colter

CHAPTER 19: Sabotage in the Generator RoomColter didn’t have time to negotiate anymore. The countdown to the building’s self-destruct system on Linus’s laptop upstairs was definitely under five minutes. If those two technicians managed to cut the main circuit cables from this analog generator, his grandfather’s safe-house apartment would be leveled to the ground before dawn.“Ines, break the door!” Colter shouted, stepping back one step from the iron locking wheel.Ines Mercer didn’t waste time. She drove a hard kick with the tip of her tactical boot straight into the center of the manual iron wheel. The strong impact made the locking mechanism behind the old iron door screech loudly and turn forcefully, slamming the heavy door inward and straight into the thin technician standing behind it.BANG!The thin technician was thrown backward. The large cable-cutting axe in his hand flew out of his grip an