I froze, my hand hovering over the keyboard.
I had locked Trent out, but the system had a manual override from the command center. Someone was watching the cameras.
“I know you’re in there, Riley,” Trent’s voice suddenly crackled through the room’s intercom speaker. He was awake. He was in the command center. “You really should have just quit when I gave you the chance.”
I looked at the download bar. 80%.
“You think a download is going to save you?” Trent mocked over the speaker, his voice dripping with malice. “You’re locked in a vault, Vance. There’s no cell service down there. No wifi. You can’t transmit those files, and you can’t get out.”
I didn't say a word. I kept my eyes on the screen.
90%... 95%...
“Miller and Hayes are outside the door,” Trent continued. “They have orders to breach in exactly two minutes. If you survived Eastern Europe, you know how this ends. You’re going to disappear. Just like your team.”
The download hit 100%.
Transfer Complete.
I pulled the flash drive from the terminal and slipped it into the reinforced pocket of my jacket.
I stood up slowly, the blue light of the servers casting long shadows across the floor.
He was right. The door was reinforced steel. There were no windows. No secondary exits. I was trapped in a box with two armed men waiting on the other side.
I walked toward the heavy steel door.
I could hear Miller and Hayes outside, their boots scuffling on the concrete, chambering rounds into their rifles.
“She’s trapped,” Miller said through the heavy metal. “Ready the breaching charge.”
I stopped two feet from the door.
I reached into my pocket, but I didn't pull out a weapon.
I pulled out my burner phone.
Trent was right about the cell service. But he was wrong about the wifi.
I had spent my first week at Blackwood auditing the logistics, but I had spent my nights quietly installing a localized mesh network repeater in the ceiling tiles above Sector Four.
I opened a secure messaging app, attached the encrypted zip file from the flash drive, and typed in a single, twelve-digit phone number.
My handler at the Department of Defense.
I hit Send.
The phone screen showed a loading wheel for a torturous two seconds.
Then, a green checkmark appeared.
Delivered.
I let out a slow, steady breath. The ghosts of my team could finally rest.
“Breaching in three... two... one!” Miller shouted outside.
I stepped back and took cover behind a massive server rack.
A deafening explosion rocked the room. The heavy steel door was blown inward, smoke and dust filling the entryway.
Before the smoke could clear, Miller and Hayes rushed into the room, their flashlights cutting through the darkness, their rifles raised.
“Check the terminal! Clear the corners!” Hayes shouted.
I moved silently through the narrow gaps between the server racks. I was in my element now. The darkness was my ally.