Chapter 3 - The Traitor Within
The luxurious ballroom instantly descended into pure, uncontrollable panic as the security chief aggressively raised his gun.
Wealthy guests screamed in terror and scrambled wildly for the exit doors, completely trampling each other in the sheer chaos.
Leonard stood perfectly still, his eyes locked furiously onto the man who had protected him loyally for over a decade.
"Put the weapon down right now, David, before you make a fatal mistake," Leonard commanded with terrifying authority.
David's hands trembled slightly under the pressure, but he kept the heavy firearm pointed perfectly at Aria's chest.
"Marcus promised my family ten million dollars in untraceable cash and a safe private flight out of the country," David confessed nervously.
Selena laughed loudly from the safety of her father's side, clearly enjoying the violent, terrifying spectacle.
"Just shoot the pathetic little brat so we can finally take control of the servers," Selena yelled over the screaming, panicked crowd.
Aria did not even flinch, her calm eyes analyzing every single microscopic expression on the desperate traitor's face.
She knew David was only stalling for precious time while a hidden background program illegally downloaded her life's work.
"You are transmitting the core algorithm from my phone using a short-range proximity scanner," Aria noted quietly into the tension.
David smirked proudly and confirmed that the massive data upload to the Voss private servers was already ninety percent complete.
Leonard's remaining loyal guards were completely paralyzed, terrified that any sudden movement would instantly get Aria killed.
Aria slowly lowered her hands in defeat and let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh of genuine disappointment.
"You really should have checked the total file size before attempting to steal my intellectual property," Aria whispered dangerously.
The transfer progress bar on the massive ballroom screens suddenly flashed violently in bright, aggressive red text.
David looked up in sheer horror as his own highly secure network began to aggressively and irreversibly self-destruct.
Aria had intentionally let him steal a highly destructive, military-grade digital virus perfectly disguised as her algorithm.
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The heavy electronic locks on all the ballroom doors suddenly slammed shut with a deafening, terrifying metallic crash.
A mechanized voice echoed loudly through the room, announcing that the building's emergency lockdown protocol had been permanently engaged.
