The sleek black SUV glided through the rain-slicked streets of New York like a predatory shark. Inside, the silence was heavy, punctuated only by the low hum of encrypted radio chatter. Aurora sat beside Xavier, her eyes fixed on the tablet in her lap. They were approaching the local headquarters of 'Apex Solutions'—a glass-and-steel monolith that looked like any other corporate office but functioned as a hub for global espionage.
"We have exactly twelve minutes once you bypass the first firewall," Xavier said, his voice a low vibration in the small space. He was checking his sidearm, his movements fluid and practiced. "After that, their internal security protocols will trigger a hard lockdown. If you're not out by then, you'll be trapped in a cage with fifty armed mercenaries."
Aurora tightened her grip on her laptop. "I don't need twelve minutes, Xavier. I need eight. I've already mapped their server architecture from Richard's back-door entries. They haven't updated their security since the takeover."
The car came to a halt in an underground parking garage. Xavier's tactical team, led by a stone-faced man named Jax, moved out in perfect synchronization. Aurora felt a surge of adrenaline. This wasn't the corporate boardroom or the gala floors; this was the front line.
As they entered the service elevator, Xavier caught her hand. His palm was warm against her cold fingers. "Stay behind Jax and me. Do not, under any circumstances, try to be a hero. Just get the data and get out."
"I stopped being a hero the day I went to prison, Xavier," Aurora replied, her eyes flashing with a cold green fire. "Now, I'm just a survivor."
The elevator dinged on the 44th floor—the server hub. As the doors opened, they were met with a hail of gunfire. Xavier pulled Aurora down behind a reinforced marble pillar. The sound was deafening, the air filling with the smell of ozone and pulverized stone.
"Go!" Xavier roared over the noise, firing back with lethal precision.
Aurora stayed low, crawling toward the central terminal while Jax and his team provided cover fire. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she plugged in the Vanguard bypass device.
20%... 45%... 70%...
The screen flickered. A security alert popped up: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. INITIATING PURGE.
"I'm in," Aurora whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs. She didn't just see files; she saw the faces of the people who had put the bounty on her head. She saw the wire transfers, the hit contracts, and the name of the man leading the hunt: The Ghost.
"Xavier! I have the source! It's not just Apex—it's an internal coup. Someone in your organization leaked the location!"
Before Xavier could respond, a grenade detonated near the server racks. The room was plunged into darkness, save for the strobing red of the emergency lights.