Chapter 27 #2
“What you’re seeing,” Tony explains, “is your worst nightmare in motion. That video, along with all the others we took, is being uploaded to servers across twelve countries. Once complete, they’ll release to every news outlet, social media platform, and pornography site.”
My blood runs cold. “Stop it.”
“I can’t,” Tony says, spreading his hands. “That’s the beauty of it. The system is automated now. Kill me, and it completes. Try to stop it locally, and it triggers immediate release from external servers. The only way to prevent it is for me to enter a specific code every thirty minutes.”
“You’re bluffing,” Aaiden says, though he doesn’t sound certain.
Tony checks the time. “I have to enter the next code in... seventeen minutes. So you have a choice to make.”
Caleb edges closer. “Our tech team can override—”
“They can’t,” Tony interrupts. “Not in time. Not without the risk of triggering an immediate release.”
“What do you want?” I ask, cutting to the heart of it.
“In the beginning, I wanted you back. I underestimated the value of what I had gotten my hands on.” Tony shrugs. “But plans change. Now I want safe passage out of here. For me, my men, and all of our equipment.”
“And then what?” Aaiden demands. “You’ll still have the videos.”
“True,” Tony acknowledges. “But I’m a businessman. We can negotiate terms once I’m away from here.”
The wind howls through the unfinished windows, sending a shower of dust across the floor between us.
Micah’s voice comes through my earpiece. “Stall him. I’m working on tracking the external servers.”
“How do we know you won’t release it anyway?” I ask, taking a small step forward.
“You don’t,” Tony admits. “But right now, I’m offering your only chance to prevent immediate release.”
Aaiden’s fingers brush mine in a silent signal to keep him talking.
“Why go through all this?” I gesture around the unfinished space. “Why not just release the video?”
“Leverage,” Tony says simply. “The video is valuable, but you… You’re worth so much more.
If I’d known your true value, I never would have sent you to the auction house.
The things you know about the Rockford operations, the contacts you’ve made hunting my people.
” His eyes gleam. “I planned to use the video to control you, but now I’ll settle for using it to secure my escape. ”
“Fourteen minutes,” the tech announces as the loading bar on the laptop ticks up.
Caleb shifts closer to us. “We can’t let him leave with that system intact.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Aaiden murmurs. “Not until Micah finds the source.”
Tony watches our whispered conference with amusement. “Problem solving on the fly? I admire that about your family, Rockford. Always thinking you can outsmart the inevitable.”
I take another step forward, ignoring Aaiden’s warning hand. “If this system needs a code every thirty minutes, what happens when you sleep?”
A flicker of annoyance crosses Tony’s face. “I have associates who handle the overnight shifts.”
“So there’s more than one code,” I say.
“Clever boy,” Tony says. “But my associates aren’t here, are they? It’s just me with the current code, and time is running out.”
Behind me, Caleb relays the information to Micah. When I check, the upload percentage on the screen has ticked up to seventy-three percent.
“Let me see what you’re uploading,” I say, taking another step closer.
Tony raises an eyebrow. “Missing your starring role?”
My fingers itch toward my trigger, but I keep my expression neutral. “I want to know what I’m letting you walk away with.”
“Fair enough.” He gestures to his tech. “Show our star what the world is about to see.”
The tech turns the laptop toward me and clicks on a thumbnail. The video begins to play of me on my hands and knees on a dirty mattress, eyes glazed with Heat fever, surrounded by Alphas. The sound is muted, but I remember their voices, their hands, their—
I tear my eyes away from the screen to find Tony watching me with interest, waiting for me to break, to beg, or to show weakness.
“Twelve minutes,” the tech announces.
“You know what fascinates me, Jade?” Tony says. “How you’ve convinced yourself you’re something special. That you’re more than just another Omega hole for Alphas to use.”
Aaiden growls, a low, dangerous sound. “Shut your mouth.”
“Or what?” Tony laughs. “You’ll kill me and guarantee the video goes public? Please, do. Save me the trouble of entering another code.”
The surrounding space is too open, with nowhere to retreat, nowhere to contain this situation. Through the empty window frames, the city continues its normal rhythm, oblivious to the crisis unfolding fourteen floors up.
“Ten minutes,” the tech says.
Caleb moves closer to Aaiden. “Micah’s working on something. But he needs more minutes.”
“We don’t have more time,” Aaiden hisses back.
“The clock is ticking,” Tony interjects, “You need to decide. Let us walk out of here with our equipment or become the biggest scandal the Rockford family has ever faced.” His smile widens. “Your choice, Alpha. Your Omega’s reputation or your pride.”
The problem extends beyond just eliminating Tony. We can’t shoot our way out of this. We can’t strong-arm our way to a solution. Not with that timer counting down, not with the upload already in progress.
Aaiden’s hand finds mine, squeezing once. I know he thinks that whatever happens, we’ll face it together.
But I’m not willing to let Tony win. Not again.
Not ever again.
An explosion hits from the north stairwell, and the concussive wave rattles the plastic sheeting and sends dust cascading from the ceiling joists. I stagger to the side, catching myself on a metal support.
“You weren’t the only ones buying time,” Tony says as the sound of boots thunders from multiple directions. “Soon, your people will be surrounded, and I’ll be leaving with my men and Jade.”
“Breach in the north stairwell,” Damien shouts through the comms. “Hostiles coming up from the south stairwell!”
Aaiden grabs my arm. “We need to move. Now.”
Tony’s tech swivels the laptop away from us. “Eight minutes to code entry.”
Gunfire erupts from the elevator shaft as more of Tony’s men pour onto the floor.
Caleb signals his team to fall back while maintaining fire. “East corridor compromised. Move to position two!”
Aaiden pushes me toward a partially framed wall. “Stay low.”
I duck as bullets punch through the drywall above my head, powdery dust raining down on us. Through the framing, I spot three of Tony’s men advancing from what will be a service corridor. They move with military precision, covering each other’s progress.
“Caleb, we need backup on the west side,” Aaiden orders into his comm. “Jade, stay with me.”
The floor beneath us vibrates with the impact of another explosion, closer this time. Our team scatters, taking cover behind construction materials as hostiles pour in from multiple entry points.
“Seven minutes,” the tech announces.
Tony hasn’t moved from his position, still watching with that infuriating smirk, and rage boils through me.
A burst of gunfire from our left drives Aaiden backward. He returns fire, dropping one of the attackers, but more keep coming. Caleb and his team shift positions, trying to maintain a defensive perimeter.
“Jade, behind you!” Aaiden shouts.
I spin just as a figure lunges from behind a stack of insulation. My knife finds his throat before his gun can find me. Warm blood sprays across my face as he falls, his weapon clattering on the concrete.
When I turn back, Aaiden is gone, cut off by a surge of hostiles from the west corridor. I drop to a crouch, scanning the chaotic space. Bodies move between framed walls and half-installed fixtures, gunshots echoing in unpredictable patterns off concrete and steel.
“Seven minutes,” the tech calls out.
I spot Aaiden thirty feet away, pinned down with Caleb behind a concrete mixer. Between us, three of Tony’s men advance, forcing me to retreat deeper into the unfinished space.
“Jade, status?” Aaiden demands through my comm.
“Alive,” I whisper. “Pushed east toward the corner units.”
“Stay there. We’re coming to you.”
“Negative,” Caleb cuts in. “Too many hostiles between positions. Jade, circle south if you can. We’ll try to reconnect at the service lift.”
I back away, keeping low as I navigate through the roughed-in luxury bathroom. Exposed pipes jut from the floor, copper glinting in the sunlight that streams through empty window frames. My boots crunch on broken tiles as I move toward the south wall.
Through a gap in the framing, I spot Tony moving along the eastern perimeter, two guards flanking him, the tech trailing behind with the laptop, the countdown still running.
I freeze, flattening myself against a half-finished wall.
My earpiece crackles. “Jade, it’s Micah. I’ve almost cracked their transmission path. Can you stay near the laptop?”
“Working on it,” I mutter, sliding along the wall.
The floor changes beneath me, plywood giving way to bare concrete, then open beams with gaps that show the floor below. I test each step, aware of how easy it would be to fall through.
A bullet strikes the wall inches from my head. Logically, I know that Tony has told them not to kill me, but I wonder if they all got the message as I drop flat, and two more shots slam through the drywall above me. One of Tony’s men has spotted me, forcing me farther from my planned route.
My internal clock ticks. How much time is left?
I crawl forward, using stacks of materials for cover. Ahead, the floor opens up where an interior balcony will overlook the living space below. The drop is at least fifteen feet.
“Jade, where are you?” Aaiden demands, tight with concern.
“Northeast corner,” I whisper. “Near the interior overlook.”
“Hold position. We’re trying to circle around.”
Through gaps in the framing, I spot Tony’s men approaching from the east. They’ve split up to trap me between them.
“Jade!” Tony’s shout echoes off the bare walls. “Stop making this difficult. You can’t win.”
I survey my options. Retreat is blocked, the path forward leads to a fifteen-foot drop, and Tony is closing in from the side. The beams offer a risky path across the open space, but one misstep means a fall.
My comm crackles. “Jade, it’s Micah. I’ve found and eliminated the external uploads, but the one on site is bad. The signals bouncing through multiple servers. I’m trying to isolate it, but every time I get close, it reroutes.”
“What do you need?” I whisper.
“I can’t stop it from where I am. If I try, it could trigger the release. I need physical access to the laptop to kill the process without triggering the fail-safes.”
“Copy that.”
I peer through the framing again. Tony and one guard approach from the east, while the tech hangs back, sheltering behind a concrete column. The second guard circles north, cutting off my retreat.
Staying in a crouch, I creep toward the interior overlook where the floor gives way to open space. The drop below shows the thirteenth floor, still under construction. A series of beams cross the gap in temporary supports that will be covered by flooring.
“Tony’s closing in on me,” I whisper into my comm. “I’m going to try something.”
“Jade, wait for backup,” Aaiden orders.
“No time.”
I don’t think about the drop. I run the beam, arms out, bullets snapping past me through the open air, the thirteenth floor a blur of concrete and rebar fifteen feet below.
Halfway across the gap, footsteps sound on the beam behind me as Tony’s guard follows, the steel support shuddering under his added weight.
“Jade, whatever you’re doing, be careful,” Micah says through the comm. “Upload’s at eighty-nine percent now.”
I reach the far side of the gap and roll onto solid flooring, come up on one knee, and put two rounds into the guard before he crosses the halfway point. He pitches to the side without a sound, falling to the floor below.
From this position, I have a clear line of sight to the tech hunkered down by a concrete column twenty feet away. Tony stands beside him.
I duck behind a stack of drywall as another shot pings off the concrete near my head.
“One minute,” the tech announces.
“Micah, I don’t have time to bring you the laptop,” I whisper.
In the distance, Aaiden shouts orders, trying to coordinate a push toward my position, but the gunfire tells me they’re still engaged elsewhere.
Tony moves to stand beside his tech, hand hovering near the keyboard. “Time’s almost up, Jade. If I don’t enter the code, the video goes live. But either way, you’re leaving with us. Your Alpha can’t save you this time.”
I peer around the edge of my cover. Two more guards move to join them, forming a protective barrier around the laptop. If I want to stop this, I have to go through all three of them.
“Forty-five seconds.”
Micah’s voice cuts through my earpiece. “Jade, I’ve got an idea. I can try to jam all wireless signals on that floor. It won’t stop what’s already uploaded, but it might buy us time.”
“Do it,” I whisper.
“It’s not that simple. I jam everything, I jam us too—comms go dark across the whole floor. Aaiden, Caleb, all of them. We lose coordination, and they’re still in the middle of a firefight down there.”
“Thirty seconds,” the tech calls out.
I close my eyes for a heartbeat. I can let Tony enter the code and walk away with the leverage to destroy us whenever he chooses, or risk causing chaos on both sides to stop him now.
“Twenty seconds.”
I open my eyes. “Do it, Micah. Jam everything.”
“Copy that. Stand by.”
Tony smiles at the laptop screen. “Ten seconds.”
In the distance, Aaiden shouts my name.
“Five... four... three...”
I grip my knife in one hand, gun in the other, muscles coiling to spring.
“Two... one...”
“Now, Micah!” I shout.
The laptop screen flickers, then goes black. The tech curses, typing commands that yield no response.
“What happened?” Tony demands, grabbing the tech by his collar.
“Signal’s gone,” the tech stammers. “All of it. WiFi, cellular, everything.”
My earpiece goes silent.
Then chaos breaks out.