Chapter 7 - The Override
The red emergency indicator light above the master control panel flickered from amber to a brilliant, pulsing crimson.
Whirrrrr-clack.
High above the loading bays, massive industrial steel shutters began to descend with the sound of grinding gears and falling iron, cutting off the grey daylight streaming in from the motor pool yard.
"She's at the control panel!" a voice yelled from the darkness near the maintenance shaft.
Hayes’s boots pounded across the concrete as he charged toward the wall, his rifle raised. "Shoot her! Stop those shutters!"
Two rounds slammed into the drywall inches from Olivia’s head, showering her hair with white plaster dust. She threw her entire body weight against the heavy red emergency override lever, forcing it past the physical safety lock.
SLAM.
The primary loading bay shutter hit the concrete floor with a shockwave that rattled the windows, sealing off the outside world in near-total darkness, save for the emergency battery-powered strobe lights mounted along the ceiling.
Hayes slid to a halt just feet away, slamming his fist against the descending iron barrier. "Bennett! You little fool! You think a sheet of metal is going to keep you locked in here with us?"
Olivia backed away from the control panel, her sidearm raised and steady in the flashing red strobe light. "It's not keeping me in here with you, Sergeant," she said, her voice cutting cleanly through the whining gears. "It's keeping you in here with the federal evidence."
She turned and sprinted toward the secondary maintenance exit leading directly into the base communications sub-level, her boots hitting the metal stairs at a dead sprint.
The sub-level corridor was eerily quiet. The emergency lighting cast long, skeletal shadows across the concrete walls. As Olivia rounded the corner toward the secure comms server room, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Standing outside the heavy reinforced door of the server room was Colonel Nathaniel Brooks, his service cap clutched in his hand, flanked by two armed military police officers who weren't wearing the standard post insignia.
"Colonel?" Olivia lowered her weapon slightly, a flicker of confusion hitting her chest. "Sir, what are you doing here? Hayes has locked down the grid—"
"Hayes is a symptom, Private," Brooks interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically grim, lacking its usual warmth. "Not the disease."
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Before Olivia could process his words, the two MPs flanking the colonel raised their rifles—not toward the hallway behind her, but directly at her chest.
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