Chapter 5 - Falling Glass
The sonic boom threw Maya backward onto the carpeted floor as a hail of tempered glass rained over the boardroom. Alarms began screeching at deafening decibels, drowning out the screams of wounded board members. Smoke and cold autumn wind rushed violently through the shattered sixty-fourth-floor facade.
Marcus was already on top of her, his heavy body shielding her from falling debris.
""Down! Stay down!"" Marcus bellowed into his lapel communicator. ""Sniper fire from the adjacent tower! Code Black!""
Maya shook off the ringing in her ears, pushing herself up against the mahogany table. Across the room, Henderson lay motionless against the wall, a neat, bloodless hole pierced clean through the center of his chest. It hadn't been an explosive breach—it was a heavy-caliber anti-materiel round aimed with surgical accuracy.
""They weren't trying to scare us,"" Maya coughed through the dust, looking at Henderson's lifeless body. ""They were silencing him.""
Miller and Albright were crawling toward the emergency exit, shrieking like cornered animals. Another high-velocity round punched through the structural column, showering them with pulverized concrete.
""The server room!"" Maya yelled, grabbing Marcus’s arm. ""If Julian's operatives wipe the local backups, the entire company’s equity automatically defaults to the offshore entity!""
""We need to evacuate you first!"" Marcus shouted back, pulling a sidearm from his coat holster. ""My tactical team is pinned down in the lobby! The elevators are cut!""
""I am not leaving my father's legacy to burn!"" Maya snapped, wrenching free from his grip.
She crawled along the perimeter wall, ducking beneath the sightline of the broken windows. The wind roared around her, blowing loose financial sheets out into the Manhattan skyline like white birds. She reached the secure biometric door leading into the executive archive.
She pressed her palm to the scanner. The red glass illuminated, reading her pulse and print.
ACCESS GRANTED: EXECUTIVE BYPASS.
The heavy steel door slid open. Inside, the quiet server racks hummed in stark contrast to the chaos outside. But the room was not empty.
Standing before the central mainframe was a man dressed in a tactical jumpsuit, an external drive plugged directly into Vanguard's core memory. As he turned around, Maya’s breath hitched.
May you like
It was Daniel. His suit was gone, replaced by field gear, and his shoulder was roughly bandaged. He held a silenced pistol leveled directly at her face.
""You really thought I was just Eleanor's spoiled puppet, didn't you, little sister?"" Daniel sneered, his finger tightening on the trigger.
