Chapter 42 - The Sanctuary Shattered
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Ten minutes later, Marcus stood over my desk, his rugged face pale as he examined the crystal drive. A year in federal prison before his early parole had aged him, but his mind was as sharp as ever. He had built half of the dark web infrastructure the Vanguard used.
"This is quantum-lattice memory," Marcus muttered, slipping on his reading glasses. "I’ve only read theoretical papers on this. It stores data at a subatomic level. If this Architect managed to weaponize this, he’s a decade ahead of the Pentagon."
"Can you hack it?" I asked, pacing the length of the study. "Can you stop the countdown?"
"If I plug this into a standard computer, it will fry our servers and broadcast our exact GPS coordinates to whoever made it," Marcus warned, stepping away from the desk. "We need a localized, air-gapped terminal. And even then, overriding a biometric DNA lock tied to Chloe..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the estate’s perimeter alarms shrieked through the house.
The piercing wail of the sirens made my blood run cold. I ran to the security monitors on the wall. The feed from the front gate showed three matte-black, armored SUVs ramming through the reinforced wrought iron. Dozens of men in unmarked tactical gear were pouring out, carrying suppressed assault rifles.
"They aren't waiting seventy-two hours," Elena shouted, chambering a round. "They tracked the courier! They're here for the girl!"
"Get Chloe!" I screamed at Marcus, pulling my tactical shotgun from the hidden compartment under my desk. "Take her to the panic room in the basement. Do not let her out of your sight!"
"What about you?" my father yelled over the deafening alarms.
May you like
"Elena and I are going to buy you time," I said, racking a shell into the chamber. "Go! Now!"
As Marcus sprinted out the door toward the living room, the first massive explosion rocked the front of the house. The heavy oak front doors splintered into a million pieces, and the smell of cordite and burning wood flooded the air. The Architect’s men had arrived.
