Chapter 14 - Breach at the Loading Dock
Down in the subterranean loading dock of the Loop skyscraper, heavy steel security shutters groaned as a high-torque hydraulic winch forced them upward. Sparks rained down in a blinding shower of white-hot metal as a cutting torch sliced through the remaining locking mechanisms.
Through the smoke stepped a half-dozen heavily armed operatives in matte-black tactical gear, their faces obscured by reinforced helmets and ballistic visors. They weren't corporate mercenaries; they moved with the lethal, silent efficiency of high-tier black-ops specialists. Their objective was clear: erase everything, leave no witnesses, and retrieve the Zurich data packets before Voss's team could lock them down.
Inside the security command alcove overlooking the dock, Emma watched the feed on a secondary monitor, her mind racing. The local police would take twenty minutes to respond—assuming Vance hadn't already bribed the precinct dispatch. They were on their own.
"Marcus, status!" Emma spoke into her lapel mic as she unclipped a suppressed sidearm from her tactical rig.
"Server room is locked down tight, data is backed up to three separate secure nodes," Marcus's voice crackled back through the earpiece. "I’ve got the primary exits covered. Where are you?"
"I'm heading for the service stairs to flank them from above," Emma replied, moving swiftly down the concrete corridor. "They’re trying to reach the data terminal in sector four. If they get into the main trunk lines, they can wipe the entire regional archive."
Emma reached the stairwell door, slipping through silently into the stairwell. The concrete walls echoed with the heavy boots of the advancing tactical team below. She didn't hesitate. Climbing the metal railing, she hauled herself up to the overhead maintenance catwalk that crisscrossed the upper levels of the loading bay.
From her vantage point twenty feet above the floor, she looked down. Three operatives had already breached the secondary bay, their assault rifles raised as they swept the area. Below them, Victor Vance was crawling toward the exit, desperately trying to slip away in the chaos.
One of the operatives spotted Vance, raising his weapon with cold indifference.
Emma didn't think. She drew her sidearm, aimed carefully, and fired.
Crack.
The bullet struck the concrete floor an inch from the operative's boot, sending up a spray of gray dust and throwing off his aim. The tactical team instantly whipped their weapons upward, scanning the catwalks for the sniper.
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"Contact above!" one of them barked through his comms.
Emma didn't stay in one place. She rolled off the catwalk, dropping cleanly onto a stack of empty cargo crates below, and vanished into the shadows of the secondary warehouse wing.
