Reynolds turned.
“Sarah, this is not the time.”
“You said Jason was safe.”
“He would have been, if you had followed instructions.”
“You told me he was dead!”
“And now you know he's alive. You should be grateful.”
Sarah's face tightened with anger.
“You used my brother to control me.”
Reynolds shrugged.
“People are useful when they have something to lose.”
Sarah looked at Olivia.
“Don't believe him. He's lying about everything.”
Reynolds's expression hardened.
“Put the weapon down, Sarah.”
For a moment, she seemed ready to obey.
Then she turned the pistol toward the floor and fired.
The bullet struck the control panel beside Reynolds.
Sparks burst from the console.
The room plunged into darkness.
“Move!” Walker shouted.
Gunfire erupted.
Rebecca pulled Elizabeth behind a server cabinet while Thomas pushed Olivia toward the central terminal. Porter grabbed Sarah's arm and dragged her away from the doorway.
A bullet struck the metal cabinet above them.
“Are you hit?” Olivia shouted.
“No!” Sarah answered.
Walker returned fire, forcing Reynolds's guards behind their workstations.
“Olivia, get the system open!”
She dropped into the chair and examined the screen. The main interface was still functioning, but several security windows had appeared.
A message flashed:
REMOTE CONTROL OVERRIDE ACTIVE.
“Elizabeth, I need you!”
Her mother crawled toward the terminal.
“Connect the black device to the lower port.”
Olivia found the connection and inserted it.
A series of encrypted files appeared.
Elizabeth began typing.
“Your father created the original financial structure. I helped build the authentication system. The final authorization requires your identity and a confirmation phrase.”
“What phrase?”
Elizabeth hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“What do you mean you don't know?”
“Your father created it before he disappeared. He never told me what he chose.”
Thomas moved closer.
“Wait.”
He looked at the screen.
A small line of text appeared beneath the authorization field.
PERSONAL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
Thomas studied his daughter.
“When you were little, I used to tell you that there was one thing no one could ever take away from you.”
Olivia remembered.
He used to sit beside her bed whenever she was frightened. He would tell her that even when people lied, even when the world became confusing, she could always hold on to the truth.
“What was it?” she whispered.
Thomas smiled sadly.
“Your voice.”
Olivia looked back at the screen.
She typed:
I WILL NOT STAY SILENT.
The system paused.
Then a new message appeared.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
Elizabeth stared at the screen.
“It worked.”
A second field appeared.
FINAL AUTHORIZATION: ACCEPT OR REJECT.
Olivia placed her finger above the keyboard.
Walker looked over.
“Once you do this, there's no going back.”
“I know.”
“Every person connected to Nightfall will know.”
“I know.”
Thomas placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Whatever happens, I'm proud of you.”
Olivia pressed ACCEPT.
For one second, nothing happened.
Then the entire control room illuminated.
A powerful electronic tone sounded through the building.
PROJECT NIGHTFALL SHUTDOWN INITIATED.
The screens began changing.
Financial accounts were frozen. Surveillance systems went offline. Confidential records were copied to external servers. The target list disappeared from the main display.
Rebecca looked at the screen.
“The witness orders are being canceled.”
Walker checked his phone.
“I've got a signal.”
He immediately called the emergency operations center.
“This is Special Agent Walker. We have an active network shutdown at the West Treatment Facility. I am transmitting evidence connected to Project Nightfall. You need to secure every location listed in the attached file.”
A voice answered.
“Agent Walker, your clearance has been suspended. We cannot accept your transmission.”
Walker looked at Olivia.
“Not anymore.”
He connected the portable drive to the terminal.
“Now the records are going to independent servers outside the agency.”
Elizabeth watched the transfer.
“It's working.”
Then the screen turned red.
SECONDARY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Olivia frowned.
“What now?”
Elizabeth leaned toward the monitor.
“That shouldn't be possible.”
A new message appeared.
FINAL ACCOUNT RELEASE REQUIRES PHYSICAL CONFIRMATION AT THE ORIGINAL VAULT.
Thomas stared at it.
“The original vault?”
Porter looked toward the ceiling.
“Where is it?”
Thomas slowly shook his head.
“Under the old courthouse.”
Olivia remembered the archive they had escaped only minutes earlier.
“But we already opened it.”
“No,” Thomas replied. “We opened the archive. The vault is somewhere deeper.”
Reynolds emerged from behind the damaged control station.
Blood ran down his forehead, but he was still standing.
“You finally understand,” he said.
Walker raised his weapon.
“Don't move!”
Reynolds ignored him.
“The system was never designed to be destroyed from here. The control center can freeze operations, but the original financial records are stored in a separate vault. If you don't reach it and complete the final release, Caldwell can rebuild everything.”