Part 47
"You're late for the party, Sarah," Julian said without turning around, his reflection in the glass window watching me as I stepped out of the elevator.
He didn't sound surprised. In fact, he sounded incredibly bored, as if my infiltration of his secure fortress was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
"The party's over, Julian," I said, drawing the suppressed pistol from my clutch, the black barrel pointing directly at the center of his spine. "Tell me where the Architect is."
Julian turned around slowly, a smug, patronizing smile playing on his lips as he took a slow sip of his drink.
"You really think you've won because you put Victor in a cage and stole some money?" Julian asked, taking a step toward me, completely unfazed by the weapon in my hand. "Victor was a loud, arrogant fool. The Architect allowed him to be caught to clear the path for a much more efficient operation."
"I didn't come here to talk about corporate restructuring," I snarled, stepping forward and pressing the cold barrel of the pistol straight against his forehead. "Give me the access keys to his penthouse, or I repaint this glass window with your brains."
The smile finally vanished from Julian's face, replaced by a sudden, sharp realization that I wasn't bluffing.
He could see the absolute lack of hesitation in my eyes—the look of a mother who had already said goodbye to her child and had absolutely nothing left to lose.
"He's not at the penthouse," Julian stammered, his voice dropping an octave as his hands began to tremble slightly. "He moved to the secure data facility in northern Virginia hours ago. He’s purging the core servers. If he completes the wipe, the identity of every operative, every politician, and every asset will be erased forever."
"And the access codes?" I demanded, pressing the gun harder against his skin.
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"They're on my personal terminal," he gasped, pointing toward a sleek, biometric desk console in the center of the room. "But you'll never get inside. The facility is guarded by an entire platoon of Blackwood mercenaries."
"I don't need to get inside," I whispered, a dark smile touching my lips as I pulled a secondary device from my bag. "I just need you to log in for me."
