Peak #2
Maeve knelt beside Peak, securing her suppressor. She caught him looking at her again. "What?"
"You sure you're ready?" he asked.
She answered by chambering a round. "I've been ready for eighteen months."
He smiled faintly. "I figured that would be your answer."
Warden stepped closer. "You find us a door?"
Peak pulled the ruggedized tablet from his backpack. "Oh, I've got better than a door." He plugged a fiber optic cable into the hidden junction box they'd uncovered beneath the navigation tower. The tablet immediately came alive. Peak's grin widened. "They're using Wren's architecture."
Maeve leaned over his shoulder. "They never changed it."
"No." Peak's fingers danced across the keyboard. "They thought nobody else understood it."
She smiled. "They underestimated siblings."
Peak looked at her. "And mechanics." She laughed softly, and the sound settled some of the tension sitting in his chest.
The first firewall collapsed in under thirty seconds. The second took less than ten. Peak frowned. "Too easy."
Maeve's smile disappeared. "They're letting us in."
"I know." He disconnected immediately. "They want us using the network."
Ruin frowned. "Is that a problem?”
"Maybe,” Peak said. He reached into his backpack again and pulled out something that looked like a cheap plastic flash drive.
Warden raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
Peak nodded. "Grandma's recipe box."
Maeve blinked. "What?"
"My grandmother stored every family recipe on this."
"You hacked a trafficking network with a cookbook?" Maeve asked.
Peak smirked. "No, I hid my operating system inside one."
Warden stared at him. "I have absolutely no idea if you're joking."
"I'm not." Peak plugged the drive into the tablet, and a completely different operating system booted.
Maeve looked impressed. "You built this?"
"Took about four years,” he said.
"You've been preparing for something like this."
"I've been preparing for everything,” he insisted.
She smiled. "I like that answer." Within moments, a new map appeared on the screen showing hidden maintenance corridors, security camera routes, power feeds, and emergency exits.
Peak's smile faded. "There."
Maeve followed his finger to three red moving dots. “Mercenaries."
Peak nodded. "Eight-man patrol."
"They're heading toward us,” Maeve breathed.
Warden smiled. "Finally, I get to crush some skulls.”
Peak ignored him. "They’re in the second corridor."
"There are another six red dots," Maeve said.
His stomach tightened as he looked at a large cluster of red dots that were deeper underground—nearly thirty of them. "They know we're here."
Maeve looked at him. "Can you lock them out of here?"
Peak's fingers flew. "I can do better." He highlighted the entire east wing, and then smiled.
"What're you doing?" Maeve asked.
"Making friends." He shut down the lights—every one of them across half the facility.
The underground complex disappeared into darkness.
Emergency alarms immediately began screaming, and red backup lights flashed to life.
Security protocols activated as the door slammed shut.
Confused voices echoed through the tunnels, and he knew that it was now or never.
Peak stood. "Move,” he shouted to Maeve and Warden.
Years of training took over as they made their way through the maintenance corridor.
Warden led the way, and Ruin covered the rear.
Peak stayed beside Maeve, not because she needed protecting, but because if they got separated, their entire plan would fall apart.
The first mercenary rounded the corner. He never saw Warden as the shotgun blast echoed through the tunnel. The second man dropped before he could raise his rifle. Bodies hit the floor around him, but Peak kept moving.
"This way.” Maeve pointed toward a narrow service passage.
"How do you know?" Peak asked.
"Because it’s where Wren would've hidden." Peak trusted her without question. They broke away from the main group.
Warden shouted after them. "We've got you covered!"
Peak raised one hand. "Give us five minutes." There was no answer, only gunfire, and he took that as his signal to get his ass moving.
The service corridor narrowed, and electrical conduit lined both walls. The hum grew louder around them, and Peak smiled. "We're close."
Maeve suddenly stopped and pointed upward to a tiny camera. It was nearly invisible. Peak crouched beneath it. "Watch this." He connected to it directly through the maintenance panel, and with three keystrokes, the feed froze and then played on a loop.
"How long do we have?" Maeve asked.
"Twenty-seven minutes,” Peak guessed.
She looked impressed again as she smiled at him.
"I was aiming for thirty." He chuckled and shoved his laptop into the backpack again. He took Maeve’s hand, and they walked further into the tunnels.
Another explosion rocked the facility and dust fell from the ceiling.
Peak knew that had to be Warden because nobody else enjoyed explosives as much as he did.
Maeve rolled her eyes. "I think he blew something up."
Peak shrugged. "He seems to be happier when he gets to blow things up, so we appease him." Maeve giggled.
They reached a reinforced steel door, and he cursed when he noticed that there was no handle—only a biometric scanner.
Peak's smile widened. “I guess that I finally get to use my military-grade encryption equipment."
Maeve crossed her arms over her chest. "You actually enjoy this."
"Oh, absolutely." He connected the tablet. The door was encrypted with adaptive authentication and live heartbeat verification. Peak laughed. "They're showing off."
Maeve leaned closer. "Can you get in?"
He looked offended. "Maeve."
"What?" she breathed.
"I've been waiting my entire career for someone arrogant enough to build this, just so I can break into it,” he said.
His fingers blurred across the keyboard, and after about ninety seconds, the scanner flashed green and the massive lock clicked open.
Peak slowly pushed the door inward as cold air spilled into the hallway.
Endless rows of servers stretched into the distance beneath bright white lights.
There were thousands of blinking indicators with petabytes of stolen lives and stolen identities.
And in the very center, a woman sat at six curved monitors.
Her dark hair was pulled into a messy braid, and headphones hung around her neck. Her fingers never stopped typing.
Maeve stopped breathing. "Wren.”
The woman froze, and slowly, she turned around. For one impossible second, nobody moved. Then, Wren's eyes widened, and tears filled them instantly.
"Maeve?" Her voice cracked. "You actually came.
" Maeve ran to her sister, and Peak didn't stop her. Hell, he couldn’t have if he'd tried.
The sisters collided halfway across the server room—laughing and crying.
They held each other as though eighteen months had never existed.
Peak looked away because some reunions deserved privacy.
Every monitor in the room changed simultaneously, and the same face appeared across dozens of screens.
It had to be the Director. His silver hair, perfect suit, and cold smile made Peak furious.
He looked directly into the nearest camera.
"Mr. Dixon." Peak slowly turned. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. "
The reinforced blast doors slammed shut behind them, and metal bolts drove home with a deafening clang. The Director smiled wider. "I do hope you brought enough ammunition."