Chapter 18 - The Cyber Intrusion
Late that night, Maria's brother Carlos sat in the guest house study, monitoring the estate's private network servers.
Lines of red code suddenly began flashing across his dual monitors, indicating a high-level cyber attack.
"Maria, call Richard right now!" Carlos shouted, his fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard.
Maria rushed into the study, seeing the alarm notifications pop up on screen.
"What's happening, Carlos?" she asked anxiously.
"Someone is trying to override our perimeter security system from a remote server in Chicago!" Carlos explained frantically.
"They're attempting to open the front electric gates and disable the infrared motion cameras!"
Richard burst into the study, holding a tactical radio headset.
"Can you trace the IP address, Carlos?" Richard demanded.
"I'm setting up a firewall trap right now," Carlos replied, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Whoever is doing this is using military-grade encryption software... wait! I got a ping!"
A location map materialized on screen, pinpointing a private yacht docked at the Stamford Marina, just five miles away.
"Victor isn't in Chicago; he's here in Connecticut on his yacht!" Richard realized immediately.
"He's coordinating a physical breach of our home tonight!"
Suddenly, the estate lights flickered twice as the perimeter alarm sirens began to wail across the dark lawn.
"They just cut the main fence line on the north side!" Carlos reported in panic.
Richard pulled his sidearm from a quick-access safe under the desk.
"Carlos, stay here with Maria and Leo in the panic room!" Richard ordered.
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"I'm going to intercept them before they reach the main house!"
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