Pounding in her ears, Anya felt the frantic rhythm of her own heart. The security feed displayed a clear path to the server room, but the window was tight. Hayes’s building was a fortress. She knew the risks, the immense danger lurking in every shadow. But the files, the undeniable proof linking Hayes to the Evergreen Heights sabotage, were worth it. Elias needed this. He deserved justice.
Pushing doubts aside, Anya slipped through the service entrance, a ghost in the hushed corridors. Her fingers flew across the keypad of a locked storage room, the click barely audible. Inside, a ventilation shaft offered the only route to the floor above, directly to the server hub. A crazy plan, but her most viable.
Scraping her knees, she hoisted herself into the dark shaft. Dust motes danced in the faint light filtering from distant vents. The air grew stale, tight in her lungs. Every metallic creak, every distant murmur of voices, sent a jolt of adrenaline through her.
Crawling forward, the metal groaning under her weight, Anya focused. She visualized the blueprint, the exact coordinates. She had to be quick. Hayes’s security teams were relentless. One wrong move, one missed detail, and she was done for.
Reaching the designated vent, she carefully dislodged the cover. A faint hum of machinery filled the air. Below, rows of blinking lights indicated the server racks. She lowered herself silently, landing with a soft thud on the padded floor.
Moving swiftly, Anya connected her encrypted drive to a terminal. Lines of code scrolled across the screen. Her breath hitched. The files were there, encrypted, but accessible. A download initiated, a progress bar slowly filling.
Suddenly, the distant thud of heavy footsteps echoed. Her head snapped up. A security guard? No, too heavy. Too many.
Frantic, Anya glanced at the progress bar. Fifty percent. Not enough. She needed more time. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage.