Chapter 7 - The Encrypted Drive
I crawled carefully across the speeding roof, staying low to avoid the deadly force of the wind.
Vance was still struggling to open the reinforced metal housing of the master pneumatic valve.
He had expected a simple lock, but the Vanguard casing required specialized industrial tools.
"Hey!" I yelled, pulling a heavy steel wrench from my utility belt.
Vance turned around, surprised to see me back on my feet.
Before he could react, I hurled the heavy wrench with perfect, practiced aim.
The solid steel tool struck him directly in the center of his forehead.
Vance collapsed backward without a sound, sliding limply across the curved roof and disappearing over the edge into the darkness.
I didn't stop to watch him fall.
"Come on!" I shouted to Sloane, guiding her back toward the exterior ladder.
We climbed down into the chaotic gangway and rushed back through the terrified passenger cars.
Marcus was still standing by the diagnostic panel in the forward vestibule, his face pale with dread.
The countdown timer now read exactly seven minutes.
"I have the override codes!" I yelled, waving the encrypted flash drive.
I plugged the metal drive directly into the master USB port on the Vanguard console.
The screen flickered violently, lines of complex code cascading across the display.
I expected the timer to stop.
Instead, the screen turned a solid, terrifying crimson red.
A message flashed across the center of the display in bold white letters.
SYSTEM LOCKDOWN INITIATED: TOTAL PURGE.
"What did you just do?" Marcus demanded, taking a step back.
I stared at the screen, my heart pounding in my chest.
"Ethan didn't give Sloane the override codes," I whispered, the horrifying realization washing over me.
"This is a fail-deadly virus."
The timer suddenly skipped forward, dropping from seven minutes to exactly three minutes.
Ethan pushed his way into the vestibule, looking desperately at the screen.
"Why hasn't the train stopped?" Ethan demanded.
"Because the drive your investors gave you wasn't a rescue code, you idiot," I screamed at my husband.
"It was a deletion protocol designed to completely erase the train's operating system."
Ethan stared at the flashing red screen, his arrogant facade finally crumbling into genuine panic.
"Vance told me the drive would restore the brakes," Ethan stammered.
"Vance used you to bring the murder weapon onto the train," Sloane said coldly.
The digital dashboard sparked, a sharp crack of electricity echoing in the small room.
May you like
The screen went completely black.
We no longer had any digital control over the train.
