Chapter 8 - THE UNEXPECTED ENDINGThe heavy double doors of the boardroom burst open with a loud bang.
A squad of armed Federal Marshals poured into the room, led by a female agent holding an arrest warrant. Beside her stood Dr. Hannah Scott, calmly holding the original steel drive.
“Richard Sterling! Mary Vance!” the lead agent called out, weapon drawn. “Hands where we can see them! You are under arrest for federal bank fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, and corporate espionage!”
Mary threw her head back and laughed—a bitter, maniacal sound that chilled everyone in the room.
“You think you won, Clara?” Mary shouted at the camera screen, as the agents grabbed her arms and forced her toward the table. “You think this ends with us in handcuffs? Look at your server logs right now!”
I froze. Down in the server room, my secondary monitor began flashing bright yellow.
WARNING: DATA PURGE INITIATED. SOURCE: EXTERNAL ACCESS KEY #001 (ARTHUR VANCE).
My blood ran cold.
Arthur Vance. My father’s private access key. The one he had taken with him to the grave three years ago.
“Your father never died, Clara,” Mary whispered into the room’s microphone, her mouth curving into a terrifying, triumphant smile as the marshals slapped cuffs on her wrists. “Who do you think gave us the passwords to your private network? Who do you think planned this entire takeover from the very beginning?”
On my screen, a new video window forced its way open, overriding my terminal.
The camera blinked on.
Sitting in a sunlit room somewhere across the ocean was a man with gray hair, dark eyes, and a sharp, familiar scar across his left eyebrow.
It was my father.
He looked directly into the camera lens, took a sip from a ceramic coffee cup, and smiled faintly at me.
“Hello, Clara,” Arthur Vance said softly through the speaker. “You always were my smartest engineer. But you were never meant to keep the company. It’s time to come home.”
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The screen went totally black, and every server rack around me shut down simultaneously, plunging the entire corporation into absolute darkness.
THE END... OR IS IT?
