Chapter 13 - The Double Cross in the Subterranean Bunker
Before Gideon could press Marcus for the identities of his current New York backers, the heavy steel security door at the entrance of the subterranean bunker shuddered under the sudden, massive impact of an explosive charge.
BOOM.
The concrete floor shook violently, showering the server racks with a cascade of dust and flaking rust.
Before the smoke could even clear, automated red emergency strobe lights began flashing frantically across the ceiling klaxons.
“Ambush!” Arthur Vance shouted, instantly dropping into a defensive crouch near the server racks, swinging his weapon toward the shattered remains of the blast door.
Through the billow of acrid white smoke, heavy tactical boots echoed loudly against the metal stairs.
Half a dozen armed operatives wearing unbranded tactical armor and carrying suppressed submachine guns poured into the subterranean chamber, sweeping the room with laser sights.
“Down!” Gideon roared, grabbing Clara by the waist and pulling her violently behind the heavy steel frame of the server terminal desk just as a hail of suppressed gunfire chewed through the sheet metal and plastic casing.
Sparks showered down like fireworks.
Arthur returned fire with three rapid, controlled shots, dropping the lead infiltrator instantly, but the sheer volume of incoming fire pinned them behind the server banks.
Amidst the chaos and deafening gunfire, Marcus Vance didn't duck.
He calmly reached down beneath the terminal desk, pulled a heavy manual override lever, and slammed it forward into the floor housing.
A loud pneumatic hiss echoed through the bunker.
“What are you doing, Marcus?!” Arthur yelled over the roar of gunfire, firing another magazine reload into the smoke.
“Saving my own skin, brother!” Marcus shouted back with a frantic, maniacal grin.
“That blast door was just a distraction. The real package was never me—it was the data transfer running through this terminal to Brooklyn!”
On the primary monitor, a progress bar flashed rapidly: Data Transfer: 98%... 99%... COMPLETE.
Marcus grabbed a ruggedized solid-state drive from the terminal port, shoved it into his jacket pocket, and bolted toward the emergency drainage tunnel located behind the rear cooling fans.
“Stop him!” Clara yelled, pointing toward the fleeing technician.
Gideon didn't hesitate.
He vaulted over the edge of the server desk, ignoring the bullets pinging off the concrete floor inches from his boots, and launched himself across the room in a furious, explosive sprint.
Before Marcus could pull open the heavy iron hatch of the drainage tunnel, Gideon’s hand clamped around the back of his jacket collar with the crushing force of a vise.
With a brutal, sweeping takedown, Gideon slammed Marcus face-first onto the metal grating, pinning him instantly with his knee pressed hard against the man’s spine.
The solid-state drive slipped from Marcus’s fingers, clattering onto the floor.
Clara was there a second later, scooping up the drive and slipping it securely into her blazer pocket.
At the same time, Arthur Vance laid down suppressing fire that forced the remaining New York infiltrators to retreat backward out through the blown security door into the Charlestown darkness.
“It’s over, Marcus,” Gideon panted, his chest heaving as he held the traitor flat against the floor.
“The data transfer is cut. You’re out of moves.”
Marcus laughed, a pathetic, choking sound as blood trickled from his nose onto the metal grating.
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“You think stopping the transfer saves you, Gideon?” Marcus gasped out, coughing violently.
“Marcone didn't just want your server keys. He wanted you down here in this bunker. Because right about now... your Brookline estate is burning to the ground.”
