Chapter 6 - The Server Room Showdown
"Lenora!" Sebastian’s voice boomed through the subterranean vault, echoing off the concrete walls like thunder.
Lenora spun around, her eyes widening in pure shock as she saw Sebastian standing in the aisle, flanked by a housekeeper holding a military assault rifle.
"How are you still breathing?" she gasped, backing up against the main console. "The aerosol—"
"Your aerosol failed, Lenora," I said, stepping forward, keeping the rifle locked onto Marcus’s chest. "Just like your micro-infusion needle. For a criminal mastermind, you have terrible quality control."
Marcus reacted instantly. He reached for his sidearm, but before he could clear his holster, I squeezed the trigger.
RAT-TAT-TAT!
A short, three-round burst struck the concrete floor inches from Marcus’s combat boots, kicking up sharp stone fragments and dust.
"Keep your hands off the weapon, Vance," I warned, my eyes cold and unwavering. "Next burst goes through your knees."
Marcus froze, his hands slowly spreading wide as he stepped away from Dr. Reev.
"Sebastian, please!" Dr. Reev stammered, dropping his silver briefcase onto the steel desk, his knees trembling violently. "I was forced into this! She threatened my medical license! She had files on my offshore accounts!"
"Shut up, Malcolm!" Lenora barked, glaring at the doctor with sheer disgust. She turned back to Sebastian, her face softening into a terrifyingly manipulative expression of distress. "Sebastian... darling... you don't understand what's happening here."
"Don't call me darling," Sebastian said, his voice dropping into a register so dark it made even me shiver. "You tried to murder me in front of two hundred people. You tried to poison my nephew."
"I was saving you!" Lenora cried, taking a step toward him, her hands held out as if pleading for mercy. "The syndicate... the people behind my father’s company... they gave me an ultimatum, Sebastian! They said if I didn't give them your clean-energy patents, they would kill you and Julian both! I staged the dementia filing to keep you alive in a facility where they couldn't touch you!"
It was a brilliant, masterclass performance. Tears actually spilled from her eyes, running down her pale cheeks as her voice trembled with artificial grief.
For a second, a flicker of hesitation crossed Sebastian’s face. He looked at her tear-stained face, the memories of their years together fighting against the horrific reality of the night.
"Sebastian..." Lenora whispered, reaching out to touch his arm. "You know I love you..."
"She's stalling," I said sharply, keeping my rifle trained on Marcus. "Check her right hand."
Sebastian's eyes dropped.
In her right hand, hidden behind the fold of her tactical jumpsuit, Lenora was holding a small, black carbon-fiber cylinder—an industrial pressure detonator wired into the server room's halon fire-suppression system.
If she pressed it, the room would flood with halon gas, displacing all oxygen within ten seconds, suffocating everyone inside while protecting the hard drives.
Sebastian’s face hardened into iron. The last remnant of emotion vanished from his eyes.
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"You really don't know me at all, Lenora," Sebastian said softly.
He reached out, grabbed the silver briefcase containing the core hard drives off the desk, and swung it with maximum force directly into Lenora’s face.
