Chapter 46 - The Decoy Protocol
"We can't surrender the drive," Clara wept, sliding down against the van’s steel interior wall. "If they get the master key, they’ll lock away the real cure forever. Thousands of children will die!"
"We aren't surrendering anything," I said firmly, my pulse hammering with steady, focused adrenaline.
"Sarah," Marcus said, turning to me with a fierce, protective intensity. "Voss is ruthless. He’s backed into a corner. He won't hesitate to kill Eleanor the moment he verifies the files."
"Which is why he isn't getting the real files," I replied, pulling the laptop toward me. "Marcus, how long will it take Liam’s team to breach the lower hull via tactical dive gear?"
Liam turned around from the front seat. "We can insert a three-man team under the waterline via the ballast intake ports within twelve minutes. We blow the lower hatches, draw their security down into the cargo hold, and create a distraction."
"Good," I said, fingers flying across the keys as I compiled an executable script on a blank military-grade thumb drive. "While you draw their guards below deck, Marcus and I will walk onto that helipad. We’ll present Voss with this decoy drive."
"What’s on that drive?" Clara asked through her tears.
"A trojan polymorphic worm," I said coldly. "The moment Voss plugs that drive into his ship's terminal to verify the gene sequences, it will overwrite his entire server architecture, seize his satellite transmitter, and automatically broadcast Eleanor’s ledger directly to Interpol, the World Health Organization, and every major news network on the planet."
Marcus looked at me, a mixture of awe and fierce admiration in his dark eyes. "You’re turning his own authentication system against him."
"He wanted my life's work," I said, slipping the thumb drive into my pocket and checking the tactical earpiece secured behind my ear. "Let's give it to him."
Ten minutes later, the mist over the East River had thickened into an impenetrable gray shroud.
Marcus and I stepped out of the shadows of Pier 4 and began the long walk across the rusted gangway of the *Proteus*. Wind whipped the dark wool of my coat around my legs, the cold salt air stinging my cheeks. Ahead of us, under the harsh halogen floodlights of the helipad, six private mercenaries stood with weapons raised.
Between them stood Dr. Henrik Voss, smiling victoriously, with Eleanor Vance held firmly before him by a burly security operative.
"Right on time, Dr. Lin," Voss called out over the hum of the ship's idling engines. "I must commend you. Most people would have tried to hide behind their lawyers."
"I don't need lawyers to face a common thief," I said, walking to within ten feet of him, Marcus flanking me like an immovable wall of shadow.
I pulled the silver thumb drive from my pocket, holding it up so the halogen light glinted against the metal.
May you like
"The complete uncorrupted sequence," I announced clearly. "And the digital signature keys to all twelve international consortium nodes. Let Eleanor go, and it's yours."
***
