Page 32 of The Comeback Road
“I got it.” The screen flashed as I broke through the last firewall and defenses of the system and quickly booted up the security camera feeds.
“Show me the layout,” Luke urged, moving closer to me.
My eyes darted across the screen as the camera feeds came to life, displaying the interior of the warehouse. “Okay, there’s a main corridor leading to the central office. Looks like there are two guards there who haven’t moved to help the others,” I noted. I also saw that the rest of the warehouse was suspiciously empty, and the amount of guards didn’t exactly add up.
I could see the wheels in Luke’s head turning, knowing he was seeing and thinking the exact same thing. “We can take them out silently, then head for the data room, which looks like it’s in that interconnected walkway,” he told me while continuing to look at the screens before me. “We have to move fast. We don’t have much time.”
I packed up my laptop and shoved it into my bag as Luke led the way. He slowly moved out of the door to ensure the coast was clear before waving at me to continue behind him. The plan was in motion, and we were moving fast into the next step of our plan. We moved at an insane speed before Luke abruptly stopped. “On three,” he whispered to me, counting down, and I braced myself, ready to take on whatever was ahead.
“Stay close,” Luke murmured, his gaze daring around for any signs of movement. The path to the server room was empty, when only a few seconds before, it was blocked by two guards. His gaze continued to dart around, looking for them in the shadows.
The path was lined with old machinery and crates, creating an obstacle course that could hide any number of threats. Wemoved closer and deeper into the belly of the beast, and the atmosphere became thick and heavy. I felt a weight of unseen eyes watching us, and the seemingly oppressive silence was broken only by the distant sounds of fighting that had been our company the entire time.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from somewhere ahead, and I froze for the briefest of seconds. “What was that?” I whispered. My heart raced, but I continued to move before Luke whipped his head back to me. “Stay here,” he said, but just as he reached the corner, a loud bang reverberated through the hall and once again. The ground shook beneath me. In an instant, the lights flickered and went out, plunging us into unforeseen darkness.
“Luke?” I whisper-shouted, trying my best to keep the panic out of my voice.
“Stay put!” he shouted back, but the command was swallowed by another blast that caused me to fly backward. The sudden darkness we were plunged into was disorienting, and I couldn’t help the surge of fear I felt at losing sight of Luke and my vision in general.
“Luke!” I yelled out this time, but my voice was drowned out by the noise. The sound of footsteps and shouting echoed through the corridors. I knew I had to move, even if that meant moving without him. Gritting my teeth, I stayed low on the ground, and started to army crawl my way to where I knew the server room was.
After what felt like an eternity, I hit a marked door with a flickering red light. “This is it,” I murmured, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I pulled myself up, and was surprised at how easily the door opened—no lock, no resistance, just access.
Inside, the room was dimly lit by the soft glow of the server racks, and hummed with power. I quickly moved over the main terminal, my fingers flying over the keyboard after I removedmy laptop once again and connected it to the main system. The screen flickering to life with a complex array of codes.
“Okay, get it together. You can do this. It’s time to crack this cherry,” I whispered to myself, remembering the intricate layers of security that protected the data. I focused, my mind racing as I continued to navigate the digital landscape that I would have spent hours admiring if I’d had the time. I was bypassing the firewalls and encryption protocols, but the code was extremely difficult. Designed to look harmless, but was a labyrinth of traps and dead-ends.
Just as I was making progress, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My instincts were screaming at me that something was off. The door I had previously entered slammed shut, plunging me into a suffocating silence, and then I heard the soft sound of footsteps approaching.
Before I could react, a figure lunged from the shadows—a masked man, wielding a knife. I barely had time to react as I ducked, instinctively dropping into a defensive stance. My training kicked in as I sidestepped his first attack. He swung the knife again as I dodged, feeling the movement of air as the blade grazed my side. I felt adrenaline, and nothing else. As it surged through me, I countered his attacks with a quick jab that connected with his jaw. But he was quick. He regained his balance and came at me again.
Exchanging blows, my entire focus was on making out of it alive. The only sounds that filtered around us were the echoes of our fists hitting flesh in the confined space. I was fast, the hand-to-hand combat training I’d been given giving me confidence. But whoever he was, was utterly relentless. I managed to outmaneuver a punch and was able to deliver a swift kick to his stomach which sent him flying back, but he recovered and charged at meagain.
We seemed to battle on, neither one of us gaining the upper hand, and I was running out of steam. I was slow to block, and I felt a sharp pain lacerate my side and knew he had finally managed to connect, an unwanted gasp escaped my lips, and I staggered back. A quick look down only reaffirmed the fact that I’d been stabbed as blood oozed from the site, soaking through my vest and for a moment my vision became blurred.
Fuck, no. Am I dying here? Fuck, no. Am I never seeing Magnolia again? Fuck, no. Am I never making it back home to Rockland?As that thought hit me, so did my second wind. Refusing to back down, I channeled my pain into fury, intohope. I launched myself at him, using my momentum and his temporary shock to my advantage, and landed a blow to his face. The impact sent him staggering back against the pallets that lined the room.
I followed with a swift kick to his knee, and heard as it gave out and dropped him to the ground. I quickly moved to pin him down, gripping his wrist to prevent him from grabbing any more weapons.
“Who do you work for?” I demanded through gritted teeth and blood.
He simply stared at me and smiled, then started to struggle against my grip, his strength returning, while mine seemed to be dwindling. I knew what I had to do. I had seen the red out of the corner of my eye, and, as quickly as I could, I reached for the fire extinguisher with my own free hand. Before I could think twice, I brought it down over his face until I heard the shattering and breaking of bones that no one would come back from.
As if knowing I was fading fast, I heard the unmistakable sounds of footsteps approaching the door, praying to whoever might be listening that it wasn’t another guard.
In my peripheral vision, I made out the silhouette of Luke as he made his way into the room. He looked around, and once hetook in the scene around him, he advanced. Breathing heavily, I moved to my knees. “I still need to get the data.”
Luke looked at me in concern. “You’re hurt. We need to get you out of here.”
“No, I need to do this. We are so close.” Stealing my resolve, I turned back to the terminal, fingers flying once again over the keyboard, ready to finish what I started, despite the pain that was clouding my vision. I just had to make it a little bit longer.
I was close, so close. Before I lost consciousness, I was barely aware of thepingthat sounded from the computer, alerting me that we had done it. I was in.
“Holy shit, you did it.”
I turned to smile at him, blinding pain taking over as I faded into nothing.
Chapter Thirty-One
