Chapter 16 - The Manhattan Infiltration
The private Gulfstream jet touched down on a private airstrip in Westchester County under the cover of a freezing, gray twilight. We didn't waste time checking into a hotel. We loaded into a nondescript delivery van rented under a corporate shell alias and drove straight into Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel, merging into the dense, chaotic traffic of the midtown financial district.
Vanguard Plaza loomed against the darkening sky like a monolithic glass-and-steel blade, its illuminated windows glowing with the artificial wealth of a dozen multinational corporations.
We parked the delivery van in a subterranean loading dock beneath the skyscraper, presenting forged corporate maintenance credentials to the security checkpoint guard. The guard, half-asleep and bored by the graveyard shift, barely glanced at our IDs before waving the van through into the underground parking bay.
“We have twenty minutes before the automated security sweep logs our vehicle identification number into the central registry,” Ethan whispered from the driver’s seat, killing the engine and popping the rear doors open.
I stepped out into the damp, concrete-scented air of the loading bay, pulling my dark wool coat tightly around my shoulders to conceal my tactical vest and my Sig Sauer. My father stayed inside the van with Judge Harrison, manning the mobile monitoring console to maintain our secure satellite relay back to the Indiana depot.
“Remember the plan,” I said, looking at Ethan as we checked our encrypted comms earpieces. “You take the service elevator directly up to the forty-second-floor server core and upload the malware packet. I’ll secure the executive stairwell on the thirty-fifth floor to ensure nobody interrupts your uplink.”
“Be careful, Commander,” Ethan grinned grimly, tapping his weapon holster. “If we get caught up here, the corporate lawyers won't even bother reading us our rights.”
We moved with absolute silence, slipping past a row of large recycling bins toward the private service elevators reserved for executive maintenance staff. Ethan swiped a cloned electronic keycard across the wall reader.
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Beep.
The heavy stainless-steel doors slid open smoothly, revealing a pristine, mirrored elevator cab that began its rapid, silent ascent toward the upper stratosphere of Vanguard Plaza.
