Chapter 24 - The Trojan HorseVictoria frowned, staring at the screen. The green progress bar suddenly froze. The background turned blood red.
"What did you do?" she demanded, frantically tapping the keyboard. "This isn't a transfer protocol!"
"Did you honestly think I built the most advanced AI on the planet without a dead man's switch?" I laughed, the sound cold and hollow in the concrete room. "The moment you remotely hacked my jet, the AI recognized a Class-1 extinction threat. It locked me out of the system entirely."
"Then what did you just unlock?!" she screamed, signaling for the guards.
"The Trojan Horse," I said softly.
On the screen, a countdown began. 10... 9... 8...
"I didn't give you the source code, Victoria. I gave you the purge protocol. And you just downloaded it directly into your own base's intranet."
The lights in the bunker flickered and died. A massive, deafening alarm began to blare. The heavy steel doors of the interrogation room suddenly popped open, the electronic locks completely fried by the localized EMP virus that was now tearing through the base's operating system.
The two mercenaries in the room raised their rifles in the dark, panicked and blinded.
I didn't hesitate. I kicked the steel table up, sending the heavy laptop smashing into Victoria's face. As she fell backward, I threw my body at the nearest guard. I snapped my forearm against his throat, disarming him in a heartbeat, and spun around, firing two silenced rounds into the second guard's chest.
They dropped to the floor.
I grabbed the keycard from the dead guard's vest and sprinted out of the room, throwing myself across the dark hallway to the holding cell.
Sofia was standing ready at the glass. I swiped the card. The door hissed open.
"Took you long enough," Sofia said, grabbing a discarded rifle from a guard I had just dropped. She chambered a round with terrifying efficiency.
May you like
"The base is blind," I said, scooping Elara up into my left arm, keeping the stolen sidearm raised in my right. "Our virus just bricked their entire network. No comms, no radar, no lights. But we have about four minutes before their backup generators kick in."
"Then let's take our plane back," Sofia said, her eyes flashing with lethal intent.
