Chapter 5 - The Glass House Falls
The bunker was a relic of the Cold War, a concrete-reinforced tomb deep beneath the sprawling lawns of the Harrow Estate. It was quiet here, a jarring contrast to the symphony of destruction echoing through the floors above. As Daniel bolted the thick steel door, the hum of the old analog generators roared to life, casting a flickering, sickly yellow light over the room.
Victoria didn't waste a second. She moved to the central console, her fingers dancing across the vintage tactile keys with a speed that defied the age of the machinery. "The satellite uplink is analog-based," she explained, her voice steady despite the adrenaline still coursing through her veins. "Mercer’s jammers are designed for modern digital signals. He won't see this coming until the feed is already hitting every server in the city."
Daniel stood guard by the door, the tactical rifle heavy in his hands. He could hear the muffled thuds of the mercenaries above—they were systematic, tearing the mansion apart room by room, looking for them.
"Why, Victoria?" Daniel asked suddenly, his gaze fixed on the reinforced door. "Why did you keep Mercer around? You had to have known he was ambitious."
Victoria paused, her hands hovering over the transmit key. For a moment, the iron mask slipped. "Ambition is a tool, Daniel. I used his hunger to drive my own growth. I thought I could control the predator by keeping him well-fed. I was wrong. I treated business like a game of strategy, but Mercer was playing a game of blood."
"We all make that mistake," Daniel said grimly. "We think we can negotiate with the storm."
"No more," Victoria said. She slammed the transmit key.
On the monitors, the digital world went wild. The files, the proof of corruption, the direct links to the catering company that had attempted the assassination—it was all transmitted in a high-frequency burst that couldn't be blocked. Across the country, trading desks halted, news feeds broke into emergency broadcasts, and federal servers began pulling the data that would end the careers of half the D.C. elite.
Above them, the stomping of boots stopped abruptly. The silence that followed was heavy, suffocating.
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"They know," Daniel said, lowering his weapon. "They’re done."
Within minutes, the sounds of tactical vehicles and sirens wailed across the grounds. The cavalry hadn't come for them—the truth had. Victoria leaned back against the console, her shoulders sagging for the first time in her life. She looked at the monitor, seeing her own name splashed across the headlines, and then she looked at Daniel. "It’s over," she whispered. "The empire is gone, but we’re still here."
