Chapter 6 - The Ghost in the Machine
The lights in the administrative boardroom suddenly flickered and died.
For a second, the room was plunged into pitch-black darkness, saved only by the pale, blue moonlight streaming through the stained-glass windows. Then, the massive smart-board on the wall hummed to life, projecting a live video feed.
It showed the interior of the school's old bell tower, the highest point of the stone castle, overlooking the dark, wind-swept campus.
Standing near the ancient, bronze bell was Julian Vance. He looked older, his hair silvered at the temples, wearing a high-end cashmere coat, holding a rugged military tablet that was glowing with the progress bar of the data transmission.
Transmission Progress: 82%
"He’s in the bell tower!" Lily cried, pointing at the screen.
"Marcus, lock down the tower!" I yelled into my communicator. "Get a team up there now!"
"We’re moving, Ms. Hartwell!" Marcus shouted back, the sound of running boots echoing through the earpiece. "But he’s locked the access gates! He’s welded the iron doors shut from the inside!"
I didn't wait for Marcus. I grabbed the silver USB drive Helena had slid across the table, grabbed Lily’s hand, and ran out of the boardroom, leaving the stunned trustees in the dark.
"Mom, what are we going to do?" Lily asked as we sprinted through the cold, stone corridors toward the base of the bell tower.
"We’re going to stop him," I said. "Thomas! Are you still on the server console?"
"Yes, Ms. Hartwell!" Vance’s voice came through my phone's speaker. "I’ve uploaded Helena's key, but we’re still missing Richard's and Julian's. The transmission is accelerating! The dark fiber lines are operating at maximum capacity!"
"Can we cut the power to the tower?"
"No, he’s running the transmission off a dedicated, backup generator system he installed in the rafters. If we cut the main school power, it won't affect his setup."
"Then we go up," I said.
We reached the base of the bell tower. A massive, iron gate that had been installed during the Victorian era was slammed shut, a heavy, high-tech magnetic lock securing it. Sparks were still flying from where Julian had used a portable torch to weld the hinges together.
Through the iron bars, I could see the narrow, stone steps winding up into the darkness.
"You can't get through, Victoria," Julian’s voice echoed down the stone stairwell, amplified by his tablet’s speaker system. "The magnetic lock is rated for ten thousand pounds of force. It’s over. In ten minutes, the Aegis Group will have the keys to the future."
"Julian, please!" Lily screamed through the bars, her voice cracking with raw, emotional pain. "Look at me! I'm your daughter! I'm not a project! I'm not a set of data points! Don't do this to me!"
Julian’s silhouette appeared at the turn of the stairs, looking down at us through the iron grating. His face, illuminated by the tablet's glow, looked conflicted for a fraction of a second, the first hint of human emotion breaking through his analytical facade.
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"Lily..." he whispered, his voice soft. "Everything I did... I did to ensure you would always win. In the world that's coming, those without predictive modeling will be nothing but sheep. I made you a queen."
"I don't want to be a queen in your sick game!" Lily sobbed. "I just wanted a father!"
