Chapter 47 - The Tracker
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The warehouse fell dead silent as the digitized voice faded out. Jax stared at the screen, hyperventilating.
"He bypassed the faraday cage," Jax whispered, backing away from the terminal. "That’s impossible. The cage blocks all electromagnetic frequencies!"
"The drive isn't transmitting on standard frequencies," Marcus realized, grabbing the crystal drive from the glass box. "It's using quantum entanglement. It doesn't need a signal. It just instantly mirrors data to the Architect's receiver. He knows exactly where we are."
Before Marcus could finish his sentence, the roof of the warehouse violently shook. The sound of heavy helicopter rotors thumped directly overhead, rattling the tools on Jax’s workbench.
"We need to move, now!" I shouted, sprinting over to the couch and scooping the sleeping Chloe into my arms.
"There's a subterranean drainage tunnel under the floor grates!" Jax panicked, frantically throwing hard drives into a backpack. "It leads out to the Oakland storm channels!"
Suddenly, the skylights above us shattered in a rain of broken glass. Fast-ropes dropped from the ceiling, and black-clad tactical mercenaries slid down into the warehouse, their weapons equipped with laser sights cutting through the dim light.
Elena didn't hesitate. She kicked a heavy metal table over for cover and opened fire, her pistol barking rapidly. The first mercenary dropped, but three more immediately took his place, laying down a relentless barrage of automatic fire.
"Go! Get into the grate!" Elena yelled, pinning them down.
Marcus grabbed a heavy crowbar and pried the rusted iron grate off the floor, revealing a dark, foul-smelling tunnel below. I handed Chloe down to my father.
"Jax, come on!" I yelled, firing my shotgun over the barricade to give him cover.
But Jax was frozen, staring at his burning servers. "My life's work... it's all here..."
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"Leave it!" I screamed.
A stray bullet caught Jax in the shoulder. He spun around, screaming in pain, and collapsed onto the concrete floor.
