Chapter 7 - The Fire in the Server Room
The gunfight inside the server room was a deafening, terrifying chaos of breaking glass, sparks, and the scream of punctured cooling lines.
Miller’s men fired through the glass partitions, their high-caliber rounds shattering the delicate server housings and sending clouds of white, non-conductive fire suppression gas into the air. The gas hissed as it escaped, quickly filling the room with a cold, dense fog that made it impossible to see more than three feet ahead.
"Nadia! Stay down!" Hale yelled, firing three shots through the smoke, forcing one of the guards to duck behind a concrete pillar.
Nadia kept her eyes fixed on the progress bar on her tablet.
75%... 80%... 85%...
The server room’s automatic fire-suppression alarms began to wail, a high-pitched, warbling siren that added to the confusion. The air was growing thin as the gas began to displace the oxygen in the enclosed room. Nadia’s lungs burned, her vision blurring as she struggled to keep her fingers on the keyboard.
"Come on... come on..." she whispered.
A bullet struck the server rack directly above her head, showering her with hot metal fragments and sparks. She screamed, ducking her head as a second round destroyed the monitor beside her.
"I’ve got the flank!" Miller’s voice echoed through the fog. He was moving around the side of the server cage, his weapon aimed at the terminal where Nadia was working.
Hale saw him. With a desperate leap, she threw her body into Miller, sending both of them crashing into a rack of backup power batteries. The impact discharged a massive blue electrical arc, illuminating the room with a brief, blinding flash.
95%... 98%... 100%...
DECRYPTION COMPLETE. DATA TRANSFERRED TO SECURE CLOUD STORAGE.
"I got it!" Nadia screamed.
Hale was struggling with Miller on the floor, her hands locked around his wrist as he tried to point his weapon at her face. Nadia didn't think; she grabbed a heavy metal network switch from the floor and slammed it down onto Miller’s head with all her remaining strength.
Miller went limp, his gun clattering across the concrete floor.
Hale scrambled up, coughing violently from the gas. "We have to go! The ventilation system is shutting down!"
They grabbed the decrypted drive and scrambled through the emergency exit at the back of the server room, just as the sound of distant police sirens began to echo from the street outside.
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As they burst into the wet alleyway, Nadia’s phone rang. It was an unknown number, but this time, she answered it.
"Nadia," the voice was weak, but distinct. It was Marcus. He was alive, though his voice was strained, accompanied by the steady beep of a hospital monitor. "I’m with the Department of Justice. The real ones. Elena... my sister... she’s a federal prosecutor. We have a secure facility in Manhattan. You need to get there now."
