Part 28
She scrambled back to the van,
covered in dust and sweat,
breathing heavily.
"I am in," Julian announced,
his fingers flying across the keys.
"The transmitter is piggybacking on the camera feed,
giving me a backdoor into their intranet."
He navigated the complex firewalls,
using exploits he had written years ago,
bypassing the security protocols.
"I am looking for the Director's files,
communications with Thorne,
assassination orders," she directed him.
"I found a folder,
encrypted with a military cipher,
labeled 'Project Aegis'."
"Open it," she urged,
leaning over his shoulder.
He ran the decryption software,
the same one they used in the cabin,
praying it would work.
The progress bar crept forward,
slowly,
agonizingly.
"They are running a security sweep," Julian noticed,
a red warning light flashing on his screen.
"The system detected the intrusion,
they are tracing the signal back to the junction box."
"How much time do we have?" she asked,
panic edging into her voice.
"Thirty seconds,
maybe less,
before they send a team out there."
The decryption hit one hundred percent,
and the folder cracked open,
spilling hundreds of documents onto the screen.
"Download everything,
now!" she yelled.
He initiated the transfer,
the files copying to their hard drive,
one by one.
Through the binoculars,
Eleanor saw the warehouse doors open,
and a tactical team pour out,
sprinting toward the fence line.
"They found the transmitter," she warned.
"Transfer is at eighty percent," he gritted his teeth.
Gunfire erupted in the distance,
the guards shooting into the brush,
trying to flush out the intruders.
"Ninety percent."
A bullet struck the side of the van,
pinging off the metal,
missing Julian's head by inches.
"They see us!" she screamed.
"Got it!" he yelled,
yanking the hard drive from the port,
and diving into the driver's seat.
He slammed the van into gear,
flooring the accelerator,
kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
More bullets hit the back doors,
shattering the rear windows,
showering them in glass.
Julian drove erratically,
dodging boulders and craters,
trying to put distance between them and the compound.
Two black SUVs burst through the gates,
giving chase,
kicking up their own dust trails.
"Hold on!" Julian shouted,
swerving onto the main paved road,
tires squealing.
The pursuit was fast and violent,
the mercenaries firing from their windows,
trying to take out their tires.
Julian swerved violently,
using the heavy van to block their angles,
driving with cold precision.
He headed toward a narrow canyon pass,
a chokepoint he had mapped out earlier,
just for this scenario.
As they entered the pass,
he hit the brakes hard,
causing the first SUV to slam into the rock wall,
bursting into flames.
The second SUV swerved to avoid the wreck,
spinning out of control,
and crashing into a ditch.
They drove on,
leaving the destruction behind,
their hearts pounding like drums.
They had the files,
May you like
they had survived the counterattack,
and General Clayton was finally exposed.
