Chapter 16 - The Test Track
The power failure lasted twelve seconds. When the emergency lights came on, the laptop had rebooted and the main console showed a red warning: REMOTE WIPE INITIATED.
“Disconnect everything!” Nora shouted.
Luis yanked the network cable from the wall. Adrian pulled the backup battery from the console while an agent covered the server cabinet. The wipe stopped at forty-three percent, but a final progress bar continued flashing on the isolated laptop.
Nora checked the evidence bag. The drive was safe. The recording had already reached Simone’s secure device, but they still needed the original test logs to prove the patch’s chain of custody.
“The logs are mirrored at the track recorder,” Luis said. “A small unit under the control tower. It runs on its own battery.”
They crossed the yard in the storm. Halfway to the tower, a utility vehicle roared from behind the maintenance shed, heading straight for them.
“Down!” Adrian yelled.
They threw themselves behind a concrete barrier as the vehicle skidded across the track. The driver jumped out and ran for the tower, carrying a pry bar. Nora recognized him as one of Richard’s security men from the garage.
She chased him before Adrian could stop her. The man reached the tower door and forced it open, but Nora slammed into him from the side. They crashed against the steps. He swung the pry bar; she ducked, grabbed his coat, and drove her shoulder into his chest.
He fell hard. The bar clattered down the stairs.
Nora reached the tower recorder first. Its casing was locked, but Ethan had shown her the maintenance override years earlier. She pressed two switches, entered the old shop’s opening date, and pulled the backup cartridge free.
A sharp click came from behind her.
Richard stood at the bottom of the stairs, one wrist still cuffed to an agent’s restraint chain, his face scraped and furious. He had escaped the room during the blackout.
“Give it to me,” he said.
Nora backed toward the window. “You’re done.”
“People like me are never done. People like you just run out of places to hide.”
He climbed the stairs, one slow step at a time.
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Nora looked down at the track, where headlights were approaching through the snow. Simone’s agents were coming—but they were still too far away.
She tightened her grip on the cartridge and made her choice.
