Chapter 17 - Ten Minutes
The technicians moved fast.
“Disconnect the network!”
“Already trying.”
“Pull the drives.”
“If we pull them during encryption, we could corrupt everything.”
Victor watched the timer.
Nine minutes.
Forty seconds.
Lily searched the control panel.
“There has to be a manual override.”
A technician shook his head.
“Not without Serena’s authentication token.”
Victor remembered the second phone.
Monroe pulled it out.
No token.
Then Ethan spoke from the stairs.
“Her bracelet.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
“Serena touches bracelet to doors.”
Lily remembered.
A thin gold bracelet Serena wore constantly.
Not jewelry.
Access key.
Monroe swore.
“She has the authentication token.”
Eight minutes.
Victor looked at the server screen.
The archived evidence represented eighteen years.
Children.
Money.
Deaths.
Amelia.
Rosa.
If it disappeared, some crimes might never be proven.
Then Lily noticed the emergency power diagram.
“This room runs separately from the mansion.”
“Yes,” a technician said.
“What happens if we kill all power?”
“The drives stop.”
“Will the wipe stop?”
“Maybe.”
“Will they corrupt?”
“Maybe.”
Victor looked at the timer.
Seven minutes.
“Do it.”
The technician hesitated.
“That could destroy everything.”
Victor stared at him.
“Doing nothing definitely destroys everything.”
They ran to the electrical room.
Main breaker.
Backup generator.
Battery array.
Each had to be disabled manually.
Six minutes.
Victor shut down the main line.
Five minutes.
Monroe killed the generator.
Four minutes.
The battery array remained.
Locked behind biometric access.
Serena’s authorization required.
Lily looked at the metal cabinet.
Then grabbed a fire axe from the wall.
Victor understood.
“Stand back.”
He swung.
Metal bent.
Again.
Again.
The cabinet opened.
Two minutes.
The technician reached inside.
“Which cable?”
Nobody knew.
The timer continued.
01:14.
01:13.
Ethan appeared at the top of the stairs.
Victor shouted.
“Stay upstairs!”
But Ethan pointed.
“Blue.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Serena said blue keeps secret room alive.”
Lily spotted a thick blue cable.
The technician yanked it.
The server room went black.
Timer frozen.
00:43.
Silence.
Then emergency lights came on.
The technician returned to the server racks.
He checked one drive.
Then another.
Finally, he smiled.
“We saved it.”
Victor exhaled.
Lily hugged Ethan.
Monroe looked at the archive.
“Now we just need Serena.”
Victor’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Serena whispered.
“You took everything from me.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“No.”
“You did that yourself.”
She laughed softly.
“Then come take the last thing.”
“Where are you?”
Serena gave him an address.
May you like
Victor stopped breathing.
It was Amelia’s grave.
