CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 56 — The Calculus of Sacrifice
The heavy concrete walls of the bunker vibrated as a distant explosion rattled the structure. The outer defenses had failed. The Zurich Syndicate’s recovery team was inside the mountain.
"Valeria, we have to move," Victor said, drawing his weapon and stepping in front of her. "The terminal is a trap. If you scan your hand, the system locks your biometrics to the grid forever. You can never leave this bunker. You become a permanent asset."
Valeria looked at Victor. "You knew about this part too?"
"I knew your mother wanted a successor," Victor said, his gray eyes uncharacteristically bright with a raw, protective instinct. "But I didn't protect you for ten years just to watch you become a slave to a hard drive. We can blow this facility and run. We can take what’s left and disappear."
"There is nowhere to run from the Syndicate, you fool!" her mother hissed, pulling a compact, chrome pistol from her coat and pointing it directly at Victor's chest. "She signs the core, or we all die in this mountain."
Ernesto looked at his wife, then at his daughter. The legal genius who had spent his life calculating risks looked at the shattered remains of his family and made his final motion.
With a sudden, violent lunge, Ernesto didn't reach for Valeria or the terminal. He grabbed his wife’s arm, twisting the chrome pistol away from Victor just as she pulled the trigger.
May you like
Bang.
The gunshot echoed deafeningly through the concrete cavern. Ernesto stumbled backward, a dark stain blossoming across his chest. He collapsed against the primary server rack, sparks flying around his shoulders as his body severed a massive bundle of cooling tubes.
