Chapter 5 - The Trap Springs
"Richard, Richard, Richard..." Marcus said smoothly, his hand lingering inside his coat. "You really should have just stayed home and cried into your whiskey. You're way out of your depth here."
Brittany shrieked when she saw us. "What are they doing here?! Marcus, you said the security codes were clear!"
"Shut up, Brittany," Marcus growled without taking his eyes off my father.
I stepped into the room beside Dad, holding my heavy flashlight firmly. "The security codes were clear, until I locked out Vanessa's administrative access ten minutes ago from my phone. Your wipe script just froze at forty percent, Vance."
Marcus’s eyes narrowed into slit-like glare. He looked down at his laptop screen. The green progress bar had halted, flashing a bright red error message: ACCESS DENIED - SYSTEM LOCKED BY SYSTEM ADMIN (E. LAWSON).
"You arrogant little bitch," Marcus spat, dropping his polite facade. He pulled his hand from his jacket, revealing a sleek silver stun gun that hummed with a menacing blue electric arc. "Unlock the terminal. Now."
Brittany backed up against the server racks, trembling. "Marcus, don't do anything crazy! Just force her to type the password!"
Richard stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own. For the first time in years, I saw a flash of the protective father he used to be before Vanessa had corrupted him.
"You lay a hand on my daughter, Vance, and I swear to God you won't walk out of this building alive," Richard growled, his voice deep and dangerous.
"Is that right?" Marcus smirked. He lunged forward, thrusting the stun gun toward Richard’s chest.
"Dad, duck!" I screamed.
Richard threw his weight to the side, dodging the crackling tip of the weapon. I swung my heavy steel flashlight with all the force I could muster, striking Marcus hard across the wrist.
The stun gun clattered to the concrete floor. Marcus yelled in pain, clutching his bruised arm.
"Brittany, run!" Marcus barked.
Brittany grabbed the portable hard drive, shoved past us, and sprinted out the door into the dark hallway.
"I've got the drive!" Richard yelled, taking off after her.
"Dad, wait!" I called out, but he was already chasing her down the corridor.
I turned back to Marcus, who was nursing his wrist, his eyes burning with fury. He looked at me, then looked down at his laptop terminal. He reached out to smash the hard drive array manually with his bare hands.
"Don't even think about it," I said, pointing my flashlight beam directly into his eyes, blinding him.
With my free hand, I hit a red button on the wall near the door—the emergency server room fire suppression override.
Instantly, loud sirens began to blare through the facility, and heavy automated steel blast doors began sliding down from the ceiling, sealing off the server room entries.
Marcus realized what was happening too late. He dashed toward the exit, but I darted out into the hallway just as the heavy steel shutter slammed shut, locking Marcus Vance inside the airtight server chamber.
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"Let me out! Open this damn door!" Marcus screamed, his voice muffled behind the reinforced steel.
Outside in the main lobby, a loud crash echoed through the air, followed by a woman's sharp scream. I sprinted toward the noise, fearing the worst for my father.
