Chapter 13 - THE TWELFTH FLOOR
Nadia and I drove toward Callahan Tower.
Police vehicles followed us.
The city blurred beyond the windows.
Nine minutes remained.
Lily stayed with Grant and my mother at the hospital.
I wanted to remain with them.
But Grant was right.
If the tower erased itself, Malcolm could claim the factory evidence had been planted.
Claire’s investigation would disappear forever.
We reached Callahan Tower with seven minutes left.
The lobby doors were locked.
Nadia used her emergency badge.
It failed.
“Malcolm revoked my access.”
I picked up a metal trash container.
Together, we smashed the glass.
The alarm began screaming.
The elevators were disabled.
The primary servers were on the twelfth floor.
We ran up the stairs.
By the sixth floor, my lungs burned.
By the ninth, my legs felt numb.
Nadia checked the timer.
Three minutes.
We reached the twelfth floor.
The security door required a biometric scan.
Nadia pressed her hand against it.
ACCESS DENIED.
I remembered Grant’s blood on my hands.
His fingerprints might still be on my phone from when he had taken it earlier.
I removed the protective screen cover.
A clear print remained on the glass.
“That won’t work,” Nadia said.
“It has to.”
I pressed the screen cover against the scanner.
The machine beeped.
ACCESS GRANTED.
The door opened.
Rows of server cabinets filled the room.
Red lights flashed.
Nadia found the central control station.
The screen displayed a countdown.
1:19.
She began typing.
“Malcolm created a recursive deletion program.”
“Can you stop it?”
“I need his executive code.”
“We don’t have it.”
A voice came from behind us.
“Yes, you do.”
Adrian Cole stood in the doorway.
The police had declared him dead.
But there he was.
Alive.
A bandage covered one side of his face.
He held a gun.
Nadia stepped in front of me.
“You kidnapped Lily.”
Adrian smiled.
“I followed orders.”
“You tried to send her over a cliff.”
“She was never supposed to survive the first crash.”
My stomach turned.
“You were in the black car?”
“I cut Claire’s brakes.”
The countdown reached forty seconds.
Nadia looked at the server.
Adrian lifted the gun.
“Step away.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Malcolm is under arrest.”
“Renata exposed you.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
“My sister exposes everyone when she is afraid.”
“She always forgets how many secrets I know.”
The timer reached twenty seconds.
I threw my phone toward him.
Adrian instinctively looked at it.
Nadia lunged.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck a server cabinet.
Sparks filled the room.
I grabbed Adrian’s arm.
He slammed me against the control desk.
The countdown reached ten.
Nadia fought for the weapon.
I saw a ring on Adrian’s finger.
It carried the Callahan executive crest.
I pressed it against the scanner.
The computer requested a voice command.
Adrian saw what I was doing.
“No!”
Nadia twisted his arm behind his back.
I forced his face toward the microphone.
“Say the code.”
He laughed.
“Let it burn.”
The timer reached five.
I pressed my thumb against the bullet wound in his shoulder.
Adrian screamed.
“Callahan Black Seven!”
The system beeped.
DELETION TERMINATED.
The timer stopped at one second.
Police entered the room.
They pulled Adrian away from Nadia.
As officers handcuffed him, he looked at me.
“You saved the wrong files.”
My phone rang.
It was Lily.
I answered.
Her voice trembled.
“Emma, someone is inside the house.”
“What house?”
“My house.”
“I came back for Mommy’s music box.”
“Who brought you there?”
There was a pause.
May you like
Then Malcolm’s voice came through the phone.
“Bring me the flash drive, or Grant loses his daughter twice.”
