Chapter 6 - The Eye of the Storm
Saturday morning dawned with a thick, gray fog clinging to the Baltimore harbor. Harbor View was surrounded by police cordons and television trucks. Councilman Hayes stood on the observation platform, his smile tight, his eyes darting toward the building as if expecting it to explode early.
Vincent and Marcus moved through the crowd, wearing construction vests. Ellie was safe, hidden in a remote-controlled camera van they had parked in the blind spot of the site.
"Three minutes to detonation," the foreman announced over the loudspeaker.
Vincent pulled out a black box—a remote bypass he’d had his engineers craft over the last two days. "Marcus, give me the signal."
Marcus hacked the local frequency, overriding the site’s PA system.
Suddenly, the eerie, scratching sounds that Ellie had described began to blast from the giant speakers surrounding the site. Then, the rhythmic knock-knock-knock echoed across the entire waterfront.
The crowd went silent. The reporters looked at their cameras, baffled.
"What is that?" someone shouted.
"It’s a cry for help," Ellie’s voice came over the broadcast. She was speaking from the van, her voice small but amplified to a roar. "They’re in the basement! They’re watching us!"
Hayes panicked. He rushed toward the foreman. "Detonate it! Now!"
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But the demolition wasn't triggered by a button anymore; it was triggered by the server spike Vincent had injected into the building’s power grid. The building didn't implode downward; it surged. Lights flashed in every window, and the data stored in the basement began to leak onto the public screens in the city square.
Emails, bribes, and illicit photos appeared for all to see.
