Chapter 6 - INTO THE ABYSSThe ice-cold salt water consumed them immediately. The heavy exoskeleton pulled Samuel down like an anchor into the dark depths of the shipping channel. Below the surface, Victor fought like a feral animal, kicking and striking at Samuel's oxygen regulator.
Samuel struggled against the weight and his brother's desperate assault. He reached for his tactical belt, pulling out a emergency quick-release pin. With a sharp wrench, he detached the heavy exoskeleton harness from his prosthetic leg, instantly regaining his buoyancy.
Using his remaining strength, Samuel delivered a powerful elbow to Victor’s solar plexus, knocking the air out of his brother's lungs. Victor gasped, involuntarily inhaling sea water, his eyes wide with shock as he sank into the abyss of the harbor.
Samuel kicked furiously toward the surface, breaking through the wave-rippled water just as his lungs burned for air.
He hauled himself onto the rusted iron dock, gasping and coughing up saltwater. The timer in the warehouse was echoing through the open doors: 00:30... 00:29...
Dragging his waterlogged body up the incline, Samuel dragged his prosthetic leg behind him. He reached the warehouse floor where Jax was shivering violently in his chair.
"The cap... where is the cap?!" Samuel shouted over the blaring alarm.
"It's in my jacket pocket! I squeezed it in when I was caught!" Jax yelled back.
Samuel sliced the zip-ties with his pocket knife, snatched the cap from Jax's pocket, and scrambled to the terminal. With trembling fingers, he punched the code—4-7-9-1—into the keypad just as the timer hit 00:03.
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The red screens flashed bright green: SYSTEM OVERRIDE SUCCESSFUL. DATA ERASED.
The alarms cut out. Silence fell over the giant, dark warehouse, broken only by the sound of rain falling on the metal roof and the heavy breathing of the two survivors.
