Chapter 16
Chapter 16: The Counter-Agent
Mark let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "You think you can just walk out of here with her? Look at her, Clara! She’s wired into the mainframe. If you pull those leads out now without the proper shutdown sequence, her brain will suffer an irreversible electrical surge. She’ll be a vegetable."
"Then give me the sequence," I demanded, taking another step forward.
"Never," Mark smiled, his eyes glinting with malice. "I built the vault. Only my biometric signature can unlock it. You lose, Clara. You’ve always been too emotional to see the bigger picture."
He reached for the panic button to call the armed guards.
But I didn't hesitate. I pulled the canister from my pocket—not the aerosol sedative the guard had used, but a highly concentrated neural blocking agent Ellen had formulated in the bunker. I lunged forward and sprayed it directly into Mark’s face.
He gasped, inhaling the vapor. Instantly, his eyes widened in sheer terror as his nervous system misfired. He collapsed to the floor, his limbs twitching violently, his mouth opening and closing but unable to form words.
I ignored his writhing body and sprinted to the control console.
"Ellen! Aris! Get in here!" I shouted through the open airlock.
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Ellen rushed into the room, her fingers immediately flying across the keyboard, trying to bypass the encryption before the download reached critical mass. The digital progress bar on the main screen read: 89% COMPLETE.
"The biometric override," Ellen muttered frantically. "Clara, grab his hand! I need his thumbprint on the secondary scanner!"
