Chapter 28 - COLLISION COURSE
"Navy Pier!" Lorenzo shouted, his face draining of color. "If a container ship hits the pier at full throttle during the evening rush, hundreds of civilians will die."
"Not on my watch," Evelyn said, her voice dropping into the cold, absolute register of a general on the field. She slammed her hand onto the master override console. "Leo, isolate the port authority subnets. Reroute the primary navigation signals through our backup satellite link in the bunker."
"I'm trying, but their encryption firewall is locking us out!" Leo panicked, sweat beading on his forehead. "They've got a terminal wired directly into the local municipal switchboard downtown!"
"Where?" Evelyn demanded.
"The old Federal Reserve annex on LaSalle Street," Leo typed frantically. "Abandoned for five years, but the underground fiber lines are still live!"
Evelyn didn't hesitate. She grabbed her tactical vest and her sidearm from the rack behind her desk. She looked at Lorenzo. "Take Marco and two strike teams to the exterior perimeter of the annex. Cut off all escape routes. I'm going inside to pull the physical plug myself."
"Like hell you are, Evie! I'm not letting you walk into a wired server room alone," Lorenzo argued fiercely.
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"You manage the perimeter, Lorenzo. I am the one who built this logistics grid, and I am the one who will defend it," she commanded with an authority that left no room for debate. She kissed him hard on the mouth, a fierce, desperate flash of passion before war. "See you on the other side."
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