PART 2: THE SHADOW OF ROUTE 9
The sharp, rhythmic beep echoed from behind the corrugated metal door of Unit 17, sending a pulse of sheer terror straight down my spine.
Agent Vance stepped toward the padlock, pulling a set of heavy tools from her coat as I stood paralyzed on the cold asphalt.
“Who are you really?” I demanded, my voice shaking in the freezing night air. “And why did my father have FBI contacts?”
She didn’t look back as she slotted my brass key into the lock alongside her own master passkey. “Your father wasn’t an accountant, Julian,” she said softly. “He spent thirty years working inside a federal witness protection program after exposing a massive corporate syndicate.”
The heavy padlock clicked open, and with a metallic screech, she rolled the door upward, revealing the dark interior of the storage locker.
Inside sat rows of glowing server racks, active monitors, and a lone desk where a surveillance headset rested beside a steaming mug of fresh coffee.
The person who had been sitting at that desk only seconds ago was gone, but a side door leading to an back alleyway stood wide open.
(Who was monitoring the servers inside Unit 17? Click “Next Page” to continue to PART 3…)
