Chapter 15 - The Building Scheduled to Die
Gabriel did not lower his weapon.
"Explain."
Dante looked exhausted for the first time all night.
"There are charges in the data vault."
Adrian swore.
Mia stared at him.
"Explosives?"
"Thermite and gas suppression override."
Sterling frowned.
"That combination destroys hardware without bringing down the building."
Dante nodded.
"That was the original plan."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"Original?"
"He changed it."
Dante swallowed.
"After Pier 19, he ordered the fire doors locked at 5:55 and the main gas line opened in the lower mechanical floor."
Mia went cold.
"How many employees are inside?"
"Night staff, security, board members, cleaning crews."
Adrian looked at the clock.
5:07 a.m.
"Maybe eighty."
Dante shook his head.
"More."
Gabriel's voice became lethal.
"Why?"
"Because he is calling an emergency all-hands leadership meeting for 5:30."
Mia understood.
"He wants witnesses inside."
"Victims," Dante said.
Gabriel stared at his cousin.
"And where will he be?"
"Gone by 5:50."
"How do you know?"
Dante looked away.
"Because I helped design the exit route."
Gabriel nearly crossed the room.
Mia stepped between them.
"Later."
He looked at her.
"He helped plan mass murder."
Dante snapped, "I thought it was an evidence wipe."
"You keep thinking your father means less than he says."
Dante flinched.
Mia looked at Gabriel.
"We have fifty minutes."
Gabriel forced himself to stop.
"How do we evacuate the building without alerting Vittorio?"
Dante shook his head.
"You cannot use the fire alarm."
"Why?"
"He controls the system."
Sterling said, "Call the police."
Adrian looked at him.
"With what credibility?"
Mia pointed at the live news screen.
"Hannah."
Gabriel understood.
"She is inside federal custody."
"Exactly."
Gabriel called the federal supervisor whose number Hannah had passed through Marco.
Special Agent Lena Ortiz answered.
Her first words were cold.
"Mr. Romano, surrender now."
"In fifty minutes, my headquarters may become a mass casualty scene."
Silence.
"Explain."
Gabriel put Dante on the line.
Dante gave locations, systems, and access codes.
Ortiz asked precise questions.
Dante answered all of them.
When he finished, Ortiz said, "We are dispatching fire and bomb units."
Gabriel looked at Mia.
"Quietly."
Ortiz ignored the instruction.
"You do not command federal response."
"If Vittorio sees emergency vehicles, he may trigger early."
That changed her tone.
"Understood."
Mia took the phone.
"Agent Ortiz, we also need access to the data vault before evacuation."
"Absolutely not."
"It contains immutable access logs proving the murder evidence against Gabriel was manufactured."
"Then federal technicians will retrieve it."
"The server is scheduled to be destroyed."
"Our priority is human life."
Mia looked at Gabriel.
"So is ours."
Ortiz's voice hardened.
"Then stay out of the building."
The call ended.
Gabriel looked at Dante.
"Can federal teams reach the gas line without the data vault route?"
"Yes."
"Good."
He looked at Mia.
"We go through service access."
Adrian shook his head.
"Ortiz just told us not to."
Gabriel picked up the Crown keys.
"I heard her."
Mia stood carefully.
Price was not present to stop her.
She suspected he would have tried harder than Gabriel.
Sterling looked toward the elevator.
"I am staying outside."
Gabriel stared at him.
"Cowardice?"
"Experience."
Sterling smiled.
"Also, someone needs to make sure Vittorio does not leave."
That was useful.
Gabriel nodded.
Dante drove them to a delivery entrance beneath headquarters.
The city outside was beginning to lighten beneath storm clouds.
Federal vehicles waited three blocks away without lights.
The building looked normal.
That was the most frightening part.
Employees entered carrying coffee.
Cleaning crews moved carts through the lobby.
Board members arrived in black cars.
None knew the lower floors had been prepared to burn.
Dante used an old mechanical key to open a freight door.
Gabriel looked at him.
"Why help us?"
Dante stared at the concrete floor.
"Because Emma looked at me like I was my father."
Mia said nothing.
Dante continued.
"I do not know if I am better than him."
Gabriel answered.
"Then choose something better before it matters less."
They entered.
At 5:24, the emergency leadership meeting began on the thirty-second floor.
Vittorio stood at the head of Gabriel's conference table.
He told directors the company was facing its greatest crisis in decades.
He told them Gabriel had become unstable.
He told them Daniel's death had exposed a sickness at the center of the family.
Then he asked them to approve a permanent transfer of executive control.
Three floors below, a maintenance worker opened the wrong panel and smelled gas.
He reached for his radio.
The radio failed.
He started running.
In the basement, Mia followed Dante through a narrow utility corridor.
Gabriel remained behind her.
Adrian carried the two Crown keys.
"Data vault ahead," Dante whispered.
A steel door blocked the corridor.
The new authentication panel rejected Dante's credentials.
"He changed it."
Mia looked at the maintenance duct.
"Environmental cabinet?"
Dante pointed around the corner.
Gabriel opened it.
Fiber lines ran through the panel.
Mia connected a diagnostic adapter from Sterling's kit.
A service prompt appeared on her laptop.
"I have a port."
Adrian looked at the clock.
5:31.
"Can you reach the Crown server?"
"Trying."
A warning appeared.
ACCESS LIMITED - ENVIRONMENTAL DATA ONLY.
Mia swore.
Gabriel looked almost impressed.
"First time I have heard you do that."
"Bad systems bring out my personality."
She searched the service menu.
One maintenance package included firmware updates from the data vault.
"There."
She opened the path.
A directory appeared.
LOG_ARCHIVE.
CROWN_AUTH.
Mia smiled.
"Found it."
Adrian inserted both physical keys into the portable reader.
Mia initiated the emergency audit hold.
The Crown server asked for live confirmation.
She routed it through the maintenance path.
A progress bar appeared.
12 percent.
18 percent.
25 percent.
Gabriel heard footsteps behind them.
He turned.
Two security officers approached.
Dante stepped forward.
"Executive maintenance."
One guard frowned.
"Your access was revoked."
Dante looked at Gabriel.
The guards recognized him.
Weapons came up.
Gabriel moved first.
He knocked one weapon aside.
Dante tackled the second guard.
Mia kept watching the progress bar.
41 percent.
One guard hit Gabriel in the ribs.
Gabriel struck him against the wall.
The second reached for his radio.
Dante stopped him.
54 percent.
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
"Do you smell that?"
Mia did.
Gas.
"Early."
Dante went pale.
"He started early."
Gabriel grabbed the radio from the guard.
"Ortiz, gas release active now."
Static.
No signal.
The building jammer had activated.
Mia looked at the progress bar.
66 percent.
"We need ninety seconds."
Gabriel looked at the utility stairs.
"We do not have ninety seconds."
"Then make some."
He pulled a manual fire handle.
Nothing happened.
Dante ran to a red pipe valve.
"Mechanical alarm."
He struck it with a wrench.
A bell began ringing through the lower floor.
Above them, employees looked toward the ceiling.
Vittorio stopped speaking in the boardroom.
His face changed.
"Who triggered that?"
No one answered.
He looked at his watch.
5:37.
Too early.
Vittorio left the conference room without explanation.
In the basement, the Crown hold reached 79 percent.
Mia copied the immutable access logs at the same time.
A list of cloned credential events filled the screen.
Each event showed Gabriel's token being used from terminals where Gabriel had never been present.
Two terminals appeared repeatedly.
Vittorio's executive office.
Dante's security suite.
Dante saw it.
His face collapsed.
"He used my office."
Gabriel looked at him.
"Did you know?"
"No."
Mia believed him.
That did not erase what he had done.
92 percent.
The corridor lights turned red.
A mechanical voice announced evacuation.
Federal teams had finally entered the building system.
97 percent.
A gunshot cracked from the far end of the corridor.
Adrian jerked backward.
Blood appeared on his shoulder.
Gabriel pulled him behind the cabinet.
Vittorio stood at the corridor entrance.
He held a pistol in one hand.
His face was calm.
"Step away from the console."
Mia looked at the screen.
99 percent.
Vittorio raised the weapon toward her.
"Mia."
Gabriel moved in front of her.
Vittorio smiled sadly.
"Always protecting the wrong person."
The progress bar reached 100 percent.
EMERGENCY HOLD ACTIVE.
Mia hit ENTER.
Four hundred eighteen million dollars froze in place.
Vittorio's expression changed.
For the first time all night, he looked truly furious.
May you like
Then every light in the basement went out.
