Chapter 6 - THE GHOST IN THE WIRES
The air ducts above the third floor were cramped, dark, and smelled of stale dust. For a grown man, they were impassable. For an eleven-year-old girl, they were a highway.
Emma crawled silently on her hands and knees. In her pocket, she carried a heavy spool of insulated copper wire Victor had pulled from the basement generator room, and Ethan’s shattered silver pocket watch.
Below her, through the metal grates, she could hear the heavy boots of Vance’s private security mercenaries patrolling the hallways.
Victor and Marcus were waiting in the blind spot of the service elevator shaft. They needed the cameras blind.
Emma reached the junction box directly above the main security hub. She peered through the slats. Inside the room, three heavily armed men were staring at a wall of monitors.
She carefully unscrewed the grate. She didn't drop it; she lowered it silently to the floor. She slipped out of the vent, hanging from the ceiling like a shadow, and dropped softly onto the top of the server rack in the corner of the room.
The men didn't hear a thing.
Emma took the copper wire. She knew exactly what to do. Her father had taught her how to fix old radios when they lived in hiding. Electricity was just a puzzle.
She wrapped one end of the wire around the main data cable feeding the monitors. Then, she pulled out Ethan’s silver pocket watch. The metal casing was highly conductive. She wedged the watch between the exposed power terminal of the server rack and the copper wire.
She didn't complete the circuit yet.
She looked down at the men. One of them was speaking into a radio. “Sweep the fourth floor. Vance wants Kane found before the police arrive. Shoot to kill.”
Emma’s jaw tightened. She signed to herself, a silent promise.
FOR ETHAN.
She slammed the watch against the terminal.
Sparks showered violently from the rack. The wall of monitors hissed in a collective static scream, then blew out simultaneously in a shower of glass and smoke.
The three guards shouted in panic, stumbling backward.
The security feed was dead.
Down in the elevator shaft, Victor saw the red indicator light on the camera above him switch off. He kicked the shaft doors open.
“Move,” he whispered to Marcus.
They stepped into the third-floor corridor. Without the cameras, Vance’s men were fighting blind. Victor moved with lethal efficiency. They encountered two mercenaries near the ballroom balcony stairs. Victor didn't use his gun—too loud. He closed the distance, utilizing brutal, silent hand-to-hand combat to drop them both before they could unholster their weapons.
They reached the balcony overlooking the grand ballroom.
Victor looked down. The sight made his blood boil.
Five hundred guests were backed against the walls, terrified. At the center of the room, Senator Thomas Vance stood calmly, a microphone in his hand. He looked every bit the distinguished statesman, his silver hair perfectly coiffed, his tuxedo immaculate.
Beside him, kneeling on the floor with a gun to the back of his head, was Daniel Cross.
“Please, everyone, remain calm,” Vance’s voice echoed smoothly through the room. “Victor Kane has suffered a tragic mental break. He is armed and dangerous. My men are ensuring your safety. We just have to wait for the authorities.”
Marcus leaned against the balcony rail, breathing heavily. “He’s going to execute Daniel. Blame him as your accomplice, then shoot you when you walk through those doors.”
“No,” Victor said softly, holding up the black ledger. “He’s not going to shoot anyone.”
Victor felt a tiny hand slip into his. He looked down. Emma had made it back. Her face was smudged with soot, but she was unharmed. She handed him the silver pocket watch. It was charred black, but the hands were still frozen on the exact time of Ethan’s death.
Victor took it. He looked at the little girl, then at the man who had raised him, now standing in the ballroom below, built on a throne of lies.
“Stay here,” Victor told Marcus.
He looked at Emma. He didn't sign. He just looked at her. She knew.
Victor pushed open the balcony doors and stepped out into the light.
“VANCE!” Victor’s voice roared over the terrified crowd.
May you like
Every eye in the ballroom snapped up to the balcony.
Senator Vance looked up, his polite smile freezing into a mask of pure ice.
