Chapter 10 - The Sixty-Second Breach
Maya looked at the camera lens, the tiny glass eye reflecting the cold neon ceiling tubes. Her stomach churned with revulsion, but she remembered Arthur lying in the dark warehouse, his breath growing thinner with every ticking second. She dropped to one knee on the slick linoleum floor, bowing her head.
""I am sorry,"" she spoke clearly, each word tasting like ash. ""I shouldn't have stolen the water.""
The comments flooded Derrick’s screen at an unreadable speed. Donations and digital tokens popped up in animated bursts across the interface. Derrick laughed, a self-satisfied chuckle that made Jonas’s jaw tense. ""See? Accountability. The system works when people are reminded of their place.""
He walked back behind the counter, his fingers tapping the register console. ""Place your thumb on the validator, brat. Let's make this official so the recovery agency can process your relocation.""
Maya rose, stepping up to the counter. She extended her right hand, pressing her thumb firmly against the glowing green glass of the biometric terminal.
The console chimed: BIOMETRIC CONFIRMED. SETTLEMENT INTERFACE INITIALIZED. SYSTEM OVERRIDE ACTIVE FOR 60 SECONDS.
In an instant, Jonas moved.
His hand shot out like a striking viper, grabbing Derrick by his shirt collar and slamming his face down onto the counter. The impact cracked the glass top, shattering the display case beneath. Before Derrick could scream, Jonas shoved an adhesive bypass patch directly into the terminal’s maintenance port beneath the register drawer.
""Download starting,"" Jonas muttered, pulling his weapon—a heavy service pistol—and aiming it at the back door where two private security guards were already bursting through the stockroom curtains.
""Drop it!"" one guard yelled, raising an electric stun baton.
Jonas fired twice without blinking. The heavy kinetic rounds struck the metal frame beside the door, the concussive boom indoors deafening in the enclosed space. The guards dove behind a display of canned rations as concrete dust filled the air.
""Thirty seconds!"" Jonas yelled over the screaming klaxons. ""Maya, get behind me!""
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Derrick was groaning on the floor, his nose broken, blood pooling on the counter. He reached wildly for an alarm pedal under the desk, but Maya snatched the heavy steel barcode scanner from the counter and slammed it onto his outstretched wrist with every ounce of fury she possessed. Derrick howled in agony, curling into a defensive ball.
DOWNLOAD COMPLETE, the synthetic voice announced. Jonas ripped the drive from the console, grabbed Maya by the collar of her jacket, and threw her toward the exit just as the storefront glass shattered under automatic rifle fire from outside.
