Chapter 7 - The Falling Empire
A heavy tactical drone crashed violently through the expensive glass, sending lethal shards spraying across the luxurious office.
The sudden, deafening explosion of breaking glass completely startled Mauricio, causing him to flinch backward.
Julian used the massive distraction to lung violently forward, tackling Mauricio aggressively to the carpeted floor.
The silver pistol fired wildly into the ceiling, the deafening gunshot echoing terribly through the enclosed space.
Valeria did not scream or run away from the chaotic, violent struggle happening near the desk.
Instead, she dove directly back toward the computer terminal, ignoring the sharp glass cutting into her hands.
She frantically typed the final lines of code to override Mauricio's heavily encrypted firewalls.
The transfer progress bar appeared on the bright screen, slowly crawling from zero to twenty percent.
Julian delivered a brutal punch to Mauricio's jaw, forcefully knocking the heavy gun out of his desperate grip.
Mauricio violently kicked Julian in the chest, scrambling fiercely to reach the discarded weapon on the floor.
"Hurry up, Valeria, the building security is definitely on their way!" Julian yelled, struggling to catch his breath.
The progress bar hit sixty percent, agonizingly slow as the massive files transferred completely over the network.
Mauricio aggressively tackled Julian into a heavy bookshelf, sending hundreds of heavy law books crashing down upon them.
Valeria watched the bar hit ninety percent, her fingers completely trembling over the final execution key.
The transfer finally completed with a soft chime, and Valeria forcefully yanked the encrypted hard drive from the console.
"I have it, let's go right now!" she screamed, stuffing the heavy drive into her tactical jacket.
Julian shoved Mauricio hard against the wall, leaving the corrupt billionaire temporarily dazed and bleeding from his lip.
They sprinted furiously out of the ruined office just as the heavy elevator doors down the hallway began to open.
They threw themselves into the dark emergency stairwell, taking the concrete steps three at a time in absolute panic.
They finally burst out into the dark alleyway behind the skyscraper, gasping for air in the freezing rain.
Julian unlocked the SUV and they practically fell inside, completely exhausted and battered.
Valeria pulled the encrypted drive from her pocket, laughing in sheer, unadulterated relief.
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But when she looked at the heavy plastic casing under the streetlights, her smile instantly vanished.
The drive was completely empty, and a small tracking beacon was blinking aggressively red on its side.
