Tension in the safehouse was palpable as Ethan, Sophie, Marcus, and Clara went over their plan. Information had been received from Elliot Cross that marked the best opportunity that they had gotten to take down Riverton so far, but it was also the most dangerous move they had attempted. The facility was not your run-of-the-mill office it was Riverton's nerve center that kept all of their records classified files and their high-level operatives. In case they are caught, there is no escape.
Marcus had already started working on breaking into Riverton's security systems. "Their firewalls are tight, but I can make a window," he said, fingers flying across the keyboard. "We will have twenty minutes before their system flags the breach. That's all the time you will have inside."
Ethan nodded. "Twenty minutes to get in, extract everything we need, and get out. We don't get a second shot at this.
Clara loaded her gun with a stern face. "Then let's not waste a single moment."
The Plan
A little after midnight, the team arrived at Riverton facility in the dead of night. The compound was heavily armed and guarded: surveillance cameras over every corner and across the periphery on top of the armed guards patrolling the limit.
Marcus came through in their earpieces. "I have disabled north corridor cameras for precisely five minutes. In, now.
Ethan and Sophie sprinted across the open ground, sticking to the shadows. Clara followed, her movements precise and controlled. They reached a service entrance, where Marcus had already remotely unlocked the door.
"You're in," Marcus whispered. "Security's blind for now, but that won't last."
Inside, the air was sterile, filled with the hum of machines and the occasional click of footsteps echoing down the hall.
Sophie pulled up a blueprint of the facility on her tablet. "The archive room is two levels down," she said. "That's where they keep their classified files."
Ethan nodded. "Let's move."
Breaking In
Walking the hallways wasn't as easy as she had thought. Riverton's security personnel moved in rhythmic shifts, forcing them to hide in shadows and time their movements, otherwise they would be caught.
They entered the elevator shaft to the lower floors and discovered that the principal access panel was locked.
"Bad news. They've got biometric security for the lower floors. You need an access card," Marcus's voice crackled in their earpieces.
Sophie ground her jaw. "Then we get one.
She saw a solitary guard walking into a restricted section. She entered his way, acting distraught. "Please, you must help me!" she whispered to him.
He barely had the time to think before Ethan sneaked up on him from behind and knocked him out with a single motion. They took his ID card quickly and dragged him into an abandoned supply closet.
"That was so smooth," Clara said with a smirk.
"Well, let's not celebrate too early," Sophie said sharply, exhaling
They inserted the card into the elevator, and opened the doors. On descending in silence, filled with a quiet, foreboding heaviness, they knew this was it-the point of no return.
Inside the Vault
The archive room was enormous, cluttered with rows of high-tech servers, locked storage units, and data consoles. Clara and Ethan immediately began setting up, connecting Marcus's encrypted drive into the system.
Marcus came over the comms. "I am in. Downloading everything now.
Sophie and Clara stay watchful and keep their weapons at the ready near the entry point. Then, when transfer of data comes close to a hundred percent complete, alarms inside the facility shriek to a life.
"They know we're here," said Ethan, whose teeth were sunk into his check.
Marcus shouted an obscenity. "Locking the system. I'll need another thirty seconds!"
The view from outside the hallway doesn't please Sophie. "We don't have thirty seconds!
Ethan pulled Marcus's drive as the final files downloaded. "We are good. Let's go!"
The Escape
They turned and ran towards the elevators but found themselves cut off by armed guards.
"We are blocked!" Clara screamed.
Sophie thought fast. "We go through the air vents!"
They dove into an open vent just as bullets hit the wall behind them. They crawled along the narrow ductwork, listening to the orders being barked below by the guards.
"We need another way out," Ethan whispered.
Marcus's voice crackled in their ears. "Emergency exit on the southwest side. I'll disable the locks remotely."
They dropped down into a maintenance hallway, sprinting toward the emergency exit. As soon as they burst through the door, alarms blared louder, and searchlights swept the area.
A convoy of black SUVs roared into the compound, blocking their path.
Riverton's operatives poured out, weapons raised.
And standing in front of them—calm, composed, and terrifyingly in control—was Adrian Lockwood, Riverton's leader.
"I expected more from you," he said, his voice dripping with disdain. "You really thought you could outplay me?"
Sophie's grip on her weapon tightened as she searched in her head for an escape. But this time, they didn't have anywhere to run.
Riverton trapped them.
And this time, it wasn't about playing games.