Chapter 18 - The Final Burn
The smoke in the corridor grew incredibly thick, burning my eyes and making every breath a painful struggle.
I dragged David toward the shattered server room, pushing him roughly against the metal racks.
"If we are going to die in here, I am making absolutely sure they don't get a single penny," I yelled.
I shoved Vance into the only chair in the room, handing him his weapon to cover the titanium gates.
I booted up a massive analog backup terminal that was physically disconnected from the main grid.
This was my absolute final fail-safe, a protocol I had designed when I first learned about Julian's betrayal.
I called it the 'Scorched Earth' directive.
I rapidly typed in a fifty-character code, my fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard.
"What are you doing?" David coughed, watching the screen fill with lines of red code.
"I am completely liquidating the recovery trust," I explained, not taking my eyes off the monitor.
"I am breaking the thirty million dollars into ten thousand micro-transactions."
I hit the final enter key, feeling a massive surge of adrenaline completely overwrite my fear.
"And I am donating every single cent to a hundred different international human rights charities anonymously."
David screamed in pure agony, watching his entire criminal empire and his life completely disintegrate.
The screen flashed a brilliant gold, confirming the massive, irreversible dispersion of the funds.
The cartel money was permanently gone, scattered to the wind in a way no hacker could ever recover.
A violent pounding suddenly echoed from the heavy titanium gates down the hall.
The cartel strike team had reached the fiftieth floor, and they were planting breaching charges on the metal.
"They are going to blow the gates!" Vance shouted, aiming his weapon through the thick smoke.
I grabbed the heavy fire axe from the floor and walked over to the massive glass window overlooking the city.
I swung the axe with every ounce of strength I had left, smashing it violently into the reinforced glass.
The glass splintered but held firm.
I swung again, screaming in pure defiance as the heavy axe head shattered the first pane.
"Maya, what are you doing?" David panicked, scrambling backward.
"I am taking the only exit we have left," I yelled back.
I swung a third time, completely shattering the massive window and letting the violent storm into the room.
Freezing rain and howling wind whipped into the server room, clearing the thick black smoke.
Down below, directly adjacent to the shattered window, was the flat, rubberized roof of the neighboring building.
It was a terrifying ten-foot drop across a five-foot gap in the freezing rain.
May you like
The breaching charges on the titanium gates suddenly beeped with a rapid, high-pitched warning.
"Jump!" I screamed at Vance, grabbing his good arm and hauling him toward the ledge.
