Chapter 15 - The Trap Springs Shut"I'm talking about basic network architecture," I said smoothly.
With a single fluid motion, I pulled out my smartphone and pressed a prominent red icon labeled CLEARANCE PURGE.
Click. Whir-clack.
Heavy steel blast doors slammed shut automatically at both ends of the corridor, sealing Daniel and his mercenaries inside the dead-end hallway. At the same time, the tactical gear worn by the mercenaries suddenly emitted a sharp high-frequency chirp.
The mercenaries dropped their weapons instantly, clutching their heads in agonizing pain as the internal neural-inhibitors built into the building's smart-defense grid—installed secretly three months prior—activated simultaneously. They collapsed to the polished floor, unconscious within seconds.
Daniel’s face drained entirely of color. He lunged forward, raising his tactical pistol toward me, but before his finger could squeeze the trigger, a heavy blur crashed into him from the side.
It was my lead security tactical officer, who had been waiting behind the reinforced partition the entire time. With a swift, brutal sweep, he drove Daniel to the floor, pinning his arm behind his back and snapping cold titanium zip-ties around his wrists.
"Get off me! You can't do this!" Daniel roared, thrashing against the floor.
I walked over, looking down at my former head of security with absolute detachment. "Daniel, you forgot the cardinal rule of high-stakes corporate warfare: never trust a system until you've checked who wrote the code."
Clara stepped up beside me, handing me a freshly printed federal arrest warrant signed less than ten minutes ago by the District Attorney.
May you like
"Take him away," I ordered quietly.
As the guards dragged a screaming, cursing Daniel down the emergency service elevator, the crimson emergency lights flickered back to a steady, warm white. The storm outside seemed to break at that exact moment, parting the clouds to let a brilliant shaft of moonlight flood through the glass.
Related Stories
