Chapter 14
Before Chloe could trace the digital routing signature or notify federal authorities, her secure terminal locked down automatically with an ominous, flashing red override warning. The screen flickered violently, wiping clean every financial document she had been reviewing and replacing them with a single, unyielding block of encrypted text. An ominous message flashed across her high-definition monitor in bold, unblinking letters: "You only reclaimed an empty house, Ms. Vance; the foundation of this city was never yours to control." The air in the private study suddenly felt freezing cold, as if an invisible intruder had just stepped into the room behind her chair.
Chloe stood up slowly from her desk, her hand resting instinctively near a security panic button as her slow, careful eye movements scanned the shadowed corners of the room. The building's automated smart security system failed simultaneously, plunging the hallway outside her study into absolute darkness as the emergency backup generators failed to kick in. She realized instantly that whoever controlled this terrifying digital override possessed security clearances that bypassed even her own military-grade firewalls. The war she thought she had won against Eleanor was merely the prologue to a much deadlier conflict with a faceless global power.
