Chapter 18
Sparks flew from the manual override terminal as Chloe fought against an automated counter-intrusion software loop. Colonel Vance Sterling’s voice suddenly echoed through the penthouse intercom speakers with a cold, mocking laugh.
"You played your parts so beautifully, General, destroying all my business rivals while thinking you were saving the dynasty," Sterling's voice echoed. "You built this entire corporate prison on stolen blood and betrayal, Sterling; it ends tonight," Chloe yelled into the room microphone.
"The prison belongs to whoever holds the master encryption keys, my dear, and they are currently uploading to an offshore server," Sterling mocked. The progress bar on Chloe's manual terminal flashed red at ninety-nine percent, threatening a total system lockout.
"Dad, cover the security feed router by the east pillar!" Chloe commanded sharply. Harrison raised his firearm, firing a precise shot into the server junction box and shattering the automated relay instantly.
The red progress bar froze dead in its tracks at 99.9%, halting Sterling's master data extraction loop in its final microsecond. "No! That's impossible! You bypassed the master relay!" Sterling's voice screamed in sudden, desperate panic over the intercom.
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Chloe slammed her fist onto the enter key, executing a military-grade recursive firewall wipe across the entire global enterprise. All the lights in the penthouse flickered back to blinding life as the lockdown protocols disengaged automatically.
Colonel Vance Sterling's secure terminal in the basement server room melted down in a cloud of smoke and burned circuitry.
