Chapter 6 - SIX MINUTES
The executive floor exploded into motion.
Employees rushed from offices.
Phones rang.
Security guards shouted into radios.
Maya opened her laptop while walking.
“Five minutes, thirty-eight seconds.”
“Can we stop it remotely?”
“Not from here.”
Richard was behind us.
“The server control room is on thirty-four.”
We ran toward the stairs.
I pulled off my heels.
Maya looked at me.
“Seriously?”
“I’m not breaking my neck for these people.”
We hit the stairwell.
Thirty-seven.
Thirty-six.
My cheek throbbed with every step.
Richard struggled to keep up.
“Grant doesn’t have access to the purge system.”
Maya shouted, “Apparently he does!”
“He shouldn’t.”
“That seems to be today’s theme!”
Thirty-five.
My phone buzzed.
Grant.
I ignored it.
Again.
Again.
Then a text appeared.
GO HOME, ELENA. LAST WARNING.
I stopped.
Maya nearly ran into me.
“What?”
I showed her.
Richard read it over my shoulder.
His face hardened.
“That idiot.”
“You raised him.”
“I’m aware.”
Thirty-four.
We burst through the door.
Two IT employees were arguing with a security manager.
The server room was locked.
“Override it!” Richard yelled.
The manager shook his head.
“Administrative lockout.”
Maya checked the countdown.
Three minutes, forty-nine seconds.
Richard called someone.
No answer.
I looked around.
“Where’s the backup power cutoff?”
Everyone stared at me.
“What?” I said. “If the purge needs active servers, kill the servers.”
An IT technician shook his head.
“You could corrupt everything.”
“Better corrupted than erased.”
Richard pointed down the hall.
“Mechanical room.”
We ran.
Locked.
Security badge.
Richard swiped.
Red light.
“Grant revoked me.”
Maya laughed once.
“Your son is staging a corporate coup because his wife left breakfast.”
I looked at the security guard.
“Break it.”
He hesitated.
Richard barked, “Do it!”
The guard slammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Again.
The frame cracked.
Countdown.
Two minutes.
Third hit.
Door opened.
Inside, switches covered the wall.
The technician pushed past us.
“Wait! If we cut the wrong—”
“Which one?” I demanded.
He pointed.
“Main server bank.”
I grabbed the red handle.
He caught my wrist.
“Once you pull that, everything goes dark.”
I looked at him.
“Then let it.”
I pulled.
The floor went black.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Somewhere down the hall, machines powered down.
Maya stared at her laptop.
The countdown froze.
00:47.
For the first time all morning, I breathed.
Then emergency power kicked in.
Her screen changed.
PURGE ABORTED.
Richard leaned against the wall.
“Jesus Christ.”
My phone rang.
Grant.
This time I answered.
He didn’t speak.
Neither did I.
Then he said quietly, “You really want a war?”
I looked at the red emergency lights.
“You hit me in front of your family and tried to destroy evidence.”
“Elena—”
“No. Listen.”
My voice was calm.
“That was the last time you get to confuse my silence with weakness.”
I hung up.
Maya’s phone buzzed next.
She looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned it toward me.
An email confirmation.
The first evidence package had successfully transmitted before the purge attempt.
Recipient:
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL — HEALTHCARE FRAUD DIVISION.
I looked at the timestamp.
9:58 a.m.
Two minutes earlier than planned.
Maya smiled.
“Looks like the war already started.”
May you like
Then the elevator doors opened at the end of the hall.
Three federal investigators stepped out.
