Chapter 9 - The Siege
"They breached the outer perimeter!" Marco yelled frantically, grabbing a heavy shotgun from a locked medical cabinet.
The heavy steel door at the main entrance shuddered violently under a massive, shaped explosive charge.
"To the underground escape hatch, right now!" Dante ordered loudly, pulling his suppressed pistol.
Vanessa scrambled desperately across the floor toward a rusted metal grate in the corner.
Marco bravely laid down suppressing fire as Roman's armed mercenaries flooded dangerously into the hallway.
I securely grabbed the silver hard drive and dropped blindly into the dark, freezing sewer tunnel below.
Dante followed immediately right behind me, sealing the heavy iron grate firmly shut.
We could clearly hear the violent, terrifying sounds of heavy gunfire echoing loudly above us.
"Marco will aggressively hold them off, but we absolutely have to keep moving," Dante urged, pushing me gently forward.
We waded miserably through the freezing, foul-smelling waist-deep water for twenty agonizing minutes.
We finally reached a rusted maintenance ladder that led directly into the sub-basement of the towering federal building.
Vanessa had successfully already triggered the false emergency drill.
The massive building's alarm system was blaring wildly, and the long hallways were completely abandoned.
We quickly found the heavily secured main server room located on the second floor.
Dante accurately shot the electronic lock completely off the reinforced glass door.
I rushed inside frantically and aggressively plugged the hard drive into the massive federal terminal.
I quickly initiated the complex transfer protocol, routing Roman's billions directly to the Department of Justice.
The glowing screen predictably prompted me for the necessary biometric override.
I leaned closely into the retinal scanner, holding my breath completely as the red laser swept across my left eye.
"Biometric Access Granted," the computerized, robotic voice announced clearly.
The green progress bar immediately began to climb rapidly across the screen.
Fifty percent.
Seventy percent.
Ninety percent.
Suddenly, the entire screen flashed a brilliant, blindingly aggressive red color.
"System Transfer Blocked by External Administrator," the screen read ominously.
I frantically pounded on the keyboard, but the complex system was completely and entirely locked down.
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"Someone on the outside is actively overriding the command!" Vanessa cried out in panic from the hallway.
The server room doors burst violently open, and Roman Castellano casually walked in, smiling perfectly.
