Chapter 7 - Steel Stilettos
"Looking for this?" Thomas asked, tossing the titanium flash drive into the air and catching it.
Penelope stared at the drive in Thomas's hand, then down at Larkin's pocket.
Thomas must have pickpocketed it during the chaotic scuffle in the ballroom before the shooting started.
Larkin groaned, pressing a blood-soaked hand against his side as he struggled to stand upright.
"You always were a coward, Tommy," Larkin wheezed, leaning heavily on Penelope's shoulder.
"I'm a survivor, Larkin," Thomas sneered, gesturing for his armed men to raise their weapons.
"You ran this syndicate like a boring hedge fund."
"I am taking it back to the streets, right after I hand this ledger to Victor to clear my debts."
Penelope's mind raced, calculating the variables just as she would a complicated tax audit.
There were twelve men, all heavily armed.
Larkin was severely wounded and holding a pistol with only four rounds left.
She was armed only with a jagged obsidian clutch and steel-tipped heels.
The odds were zero.
"Kill them both," Thomas ordered, turning his back to walk away.
"Wait!" Penelope shouted, stepping out from under Larkin's weight.
The armed men paused, their fingers resting lightly on their triggers.
Thomas glanced over his shoulder, looking irritated.
"What do you want, secretary?"
"That drive is encrypted with a rolling biometric lock," Penelope lied, her voice projecting absolute authority.
"If you plug it into a computer without Larkin's thumbprint, it wipes the data permanently."
Thomas froze.
He looked down at the small titanium drive, a flicker of doubt crossing his cruel features.
"She's bluffing," one of the guards grunted.
"Am I?" Penelope challenged, stepping forward.
"I built the encryption protocol myself."
"If you kill him now, Victor gets nothing, and you are a dead man by morning."
Thomas gritted his teeth, marching back toward the elevator.
He grabbed Larkin by the throat and shoved his bleeding cousin toward the nearest penthouse computer terminal.
"Unlock it," Thomas commanded, holding a gun to Larkin's temple.
Larkin looked at Penelope, his winter-ocean eyes filled with silent questions.
She gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
Larkin pressed his thumb against the drive's scanner.
The computer screen flashed green, and a command prompt appeared.
"Good," Thomas laughed, pushing Larkin away.
"Now, let's see how much we can transfer before the cops arrive."
Thomas plugged the drive into the port and hit the enter key.
A massive, blaring siren suddenly erupted from the penthouse speakers.
Red emergency lights flashed violently, and heavy steel blast doors slammed down over the windows and exits, sealing the room completely.
The computer screen turned entirely black, displaying a single line of flashing red text.
May you like
"INITIATING THERMAL PURGE."
Thomas screamed as white-hot smoke began pouring from the air vents directly above him.
