Chapter 6 - Infiltration & Confrontation
At 8:45 AM, the glass-and-steel skyscraper of Sterling Global sat quiet in the cold morning light, mostly empty due to the Christmas holiday weekend.
Hannah, dressed in her dark maintenance uniform with a high-visibility vest and carrying a cleaning cart, swiped her access card at the employee entrance. The electronic lock chimed green. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she walked past the deserted security desk, heading straight for the executive elevators.
In her ear, a tiny, concealed earpiece buzzed.
"I’m with you, Hannah," Julian’s voice came through from a van parked two blocks away. "Ethan is walking into the Mercer headquarters board room right now. Arthur and Victoria Sterling are already there. You have approximately forty-five minutes before the board vote begins."
"Understood," Hannah whispered, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button for the 40th floor.
Meanwhile, in the grand boardroom of Mercer Urban Systems, Ethan walked in. The room was packed with twelve board members, all staring at him with expressions ranging from hostility to concern. Arthur Sterling sat at the head of the table, flanked by Victoria and his team of corporate lawyers.
"Ah, Ethan," Arthur said with a patronizing smile. "Glad you could join us. I trust you’ve read the morning news? The stock price is already fluctuating due to the scandal. The board is eager to resolve this situation."
"This meeting was called to discuss the integrity of the proposed merger," Ethan said smoothly, taking his seat at the opposite end of the long table. "And before any vote is cast, I intend to lay out the full truth."
Victoria smirked, leaning back in her chair. "The truth, Ethan? That you brought a lower-class maid into your home and compromised our multi-billion dollar venture? My father is offering you a lifeline. Sign the merger documents now, step down as active CEO for six months until the scandal dies down, and we can move past this."
"I won't be signing anything," Ethan replied calmly, looking around the room at his board members. "Because Sterling Global is built on a foundation of fraud, extortion, and illegal corporate sabotage."
Whispers broke out across the boardroom. Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "Careful, Ethan. Slander is an expensive game."
On the 40th floor of Sterling Global, Hannah pushed her cleaning cart down the silent, carpeted corridor toward Marcus Vance’s office. She pulled out an electronic master key—a device Julian had programmed to bypass digital door locks.
She pressed the device against the door lock of the inner suite. A series of red lights flashed before turning solid green. The door clicked open.
"I'm in," Hannah whispered into her mic.
"Great," Julian said. "The safe is located behind the wooden paneling on the west wall, behind the framed portrait of the company founder."
Hannah hurried to the wall, sliding the heavy oil painting aside to reveal a wall-embedded biometric safe.
"It requires a combination and a keycard," Hannah said, her breath catching. "I don't have the code, Julian!"
"Don't panic," Julian replied. "Connect the bypass cable I put in your cart to the safe's maintenance port. My program will run a brute-force dictionary attack on the digital lock."
Hannah’s hands trembled as she plugged the small cable into the port under the safe keypad. Numbers began flashing rapidly across a small handheld device.
10%... 35%... 70%...
Suddenly, the heavy glass door of the office opened behind her.
"Can I help you with something, Miss Brooks?" a cold, gravelly voice demanded.
May you like
Hannah froze. She turned around slowly to face Marcus Vance. He stood in the doorway, wearing a dark coat, his left eyebrow bisected by the distinct scar she remembered from five years ago. On his right hand, the silver pinky ring glinted in the fluorescent lights.
In his hand, he held a silenced pistol aimed directly at her chest.
