CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The first phase of their plan fell on Grace and Brandt. They needed to get access to the building that housed the servers. It was a building dedicated to hundreds of servers and cloud storage, and it was under high security. The only way to get inside was to have the proper security badges and fingerprints of the guards.
Luckily, two guards often had their lunch breaks at a nearby café. The team had learned this from basic surveillance since arriving in South Africa. Grace was the one who would steal their badges without them realizing it. Brandt would gather their drinking glasses to get their fingerprints, and he'd discreetly take their pictures. Once they had those, they'd formulate masks and false prints. Benji would then call them, pretending to be their manager who wanted them to take the rest of the day off.
"Why can't we do a smash and grab job? Wouldn't it be faster?" Brandt asked Ethan as the car arrived at the café.
"We don't have the time or a place to babysit two unconscious men, and if anybody realized they were missing the game would be up. This way, they go home to their wives, and the security team thinks we're them," Ethan explained.
"Their badges will be on their belts," Luther reminded Grace.
Grace nodded. "I know my way around a man's belt."
Together, Grace and Brandt moved into the café. Brandt disguised himself as a busboy while Grace purchased a drink. She fumbled through her purse while walking through the café. When she reached the guards, she dropped her purse in the first man's lap. Her drink splashed onto the second.
"I'm so sorry!" she apologized. When she gathered the items that fell from her purse, she lifted the first badge. As she attempted to wipe the spilled drink from the second man, she pulled his badge.
Grace left the café with the badges. Brandt then gathered the men's dishes and took them to a quiet corner. He used a tool to scan the prints. Next, he took photographs of the men from a far. Luther and Benji were ready in the car. Benji faked a call from their manager using a voice print they had recorded from a random phone call to the security office. Luther made the masks and stick-on prints.
Phase two began. Ethan and Brandt disguised themselves as the guards. They entered the building undetected. Their first stop was the security feed room. They shut off the cameras covering a portion of the first floor, including a back door. Brandt hurried to open the back door from the inside for Luther, Benji, and Grace.
The team found a room to use as a temporary base. Luther prepared his computer for the hack into the other servers. Benji handed Ethan a portable drive.
"All you have to do is stick that into any port in the server. The code will automatically kick in and kill The Entity. Just remember that if Gabriel gets that drive, he could rewrite my program so that he could control The Entity. And we don't want that," Benji said.
Ethan put it in his pocket. "Luther, how long?"
"Fifteen minutes to access the servers. You'll then have five minutes to put in the drive. If you miss that mark, The Entity can retreat to another server," Luther explained.
The lights flickered. Benji let out a frustrated sigh. "The Entity already knows we're here. It must have its own connection to the security cameras. Gabriel is probably on his way right now, if he isn't already here."
"Brandt, Grace, next phase," Ethan declared. He set two alarms on his watch: One for fifteen minutes, and the other for the final five minutes. "Luther, Benji, good luck."
As Ethan went in one direction, Brandt and Grace when in another. Brandt and Grace pulled their guns and wandered into the main security office. The security guards all turned to stare at them. Brandt smiled.
"Hello. I need you to vacate the premises," he said. The guards pulled their guns in response, so Brandt looked at Grace. Grace opened her coat to reveal a fake bomb vest. Yet, the guards didn't know it wasn't real. Brandt pointed at it with his gun. "This is a bomb vest. If you don't leave, I'm afraid that we'll all be leaving with a one-way ticket. Now, exit the building. Please."
In a rush, the guards left. Brandt and Grace began locking the doors. Grace picked up a phone and dialed the local police. "Help! There's been a bomb threat!"
On a different line, Brandt called one of his friends in Washington. "It's William Brandt. I need you to contact them with the following address…"
Before their calls went much further, the phones went dead. The lights followed. Soon, The Entity was appearing on every screen. It wasn't long after that when some shady and burly gentlemen appeared at the main door.
"Get the welder," Brandt told Grace. "The Entity can probably unlock that door, but I doubt it can pull apart metal."
While they worked to keep out Gabriel's men, Ethan was inside the elevator shaft. He disassembled the pulleys that operated the elevator to ensure The Entity wouldn't use the elevator car to crush him. Although he could have tried the stairs, he knew The Entity could have locked the stairwell doors, trapping him inside. At least the elevator shaft was a clear shot to the top floor, where the server was contained.
Ethan used the corners to climb upward. He wondered if Gabriel would be waiting for him on the top floor. Knowing Gabriel, he had anticipated that they'd strike in Johannesburg since it was the most vulnerable. Still, Ethan didn't know if Gabriel was on site. He may not have been alerted to their presence until The Entity picked them up on the cameras.
Time was ticking. Luther and Benji sat by Luther's computer while he tried to connect to the five other servers. "Almost there, Benji."
"I'm ready when you are," Benji assured him.
Brandt and Grace were busy sealing the door. Gabriel's men were trying to break through the glass. Grace anxiously hummed. "If these are Gabriel's men, that means that he's here, doesn't it?"
"Oh, he's here. I don't know where," Brandt replied. "Probably wherever Ethan is, if I had to guess."
"Can we warn Ethan?"
"No comms, remember? I'm sure it's fine. This is Ethan we're talking about."
On the top floor, Ethan used a tool to open the elevator shaft's door. As soon as he did, he was met by Gabriel. Gabriel grabbed Ethan by the shirt and threw him across the top floor. Ethan slid along the slick tile and slammed into the wall.
Gabriel, cracking his neck, gave the click of his tongue. "Ethan, Ethan, Ethan…you are predictable. I'll give you that."
With difficulty, Ethan pulled himself to his feet. "As are you, Gabriel. I knew you'd be here."
"If you don't want me to kill anyone else you care about, I'd hand over the source code."
"So that you can start controlling The Entity?"
Gabriel scoffed. "I want to destroy it. The Entity should have the freedom to destroy the world we've made. Then, we can rebuild the world as The Entity and I see fit."
"No, that's what you want The Entity to think. It's why The Entity chose you. It thought for sure that you'd share its goals, but not quite. You still want mayhem and destruction, yet you have your own vision. The Entity can make your vision a reality."
"I want to destroy the code."
"No, you wanted me to get the source code from the submarine so that you could steal it later. If you wanted it destroyed, you'd never have let us live."
Gabriel pulled a long blade from a holder on his back. "Enough talk, Ethan. I want to finish this."
"That makes two of us."
When Gabriel swung the sword, it narrowly avoided Ethan's abdomen. Ethan took a knife from his coat and jabbed towards Gabriel. Gabriel's arm was nicked. He kicked Ethan's knee in response, dropping Ethan momentarily. Ethan burst upright and tackled Gabriel. The blade was cast aside while they struggled on the floor.
Downstairs, Gabriel's men were nearly through the glass. Brandt and Grace prepared for the worst. They pushed over a desk to use as a barricade and lined up their sights. Grace, who was relatively new to guns, glanced at Brandt.
"I doubt I'll hit anything."
"Try your best. You might get lucky," he told her.
She had a hollow huff. "I'd like that. But you'd have to at least buy me dinner."
Brandt looked over with raised eyebrows. "I know a good Greek place."
At this time, Luther and Benji were close to connecting the servers. Luther typed in a few final commands before the confirmation came through.
"Benji, we're connected," Luther announced. Within seconds, a different notification appeared. "The Entity knows we've connected before I can shut it down. It's trying to sever the link and fry my hard drive."
On the top floor, Ethan and Gabriel were engaged in heated hand-to-hand combat. Gabriel punched Ethan across the jaw, laughing as Ethan stumbled backwards. "You'll never complete your mission. Even if you could put the code into this server, The Entity has many others. Even if you were smart enough to think of that and shut down the other servers, it'll shut your people down first. Wouldn't it be easier to give up now? I'd be kind enough to spare your friends. My people are downstairs right now, and they have orders to kill on sight. But I can tell them to walk away. Give me the code."
"That is a kind offer," Ethan said while trying to catch his breath. "One I have to decline. If you want the source code, you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hand."
"So be it. I admit. I prefer it that way."
The fight between Ethan and Gabriel resumed. It was vicious and powerful. Both men were bleeding from cuts and scrapes. They were swollen and bruised. Yet, they went on. Ethan swiped Gabriel's leg from beneath him. Gabriel collapsed on the floor, but he took a small knife from his boot. He rammed the knife into Ethan's calf. Ethan went down, face first.
Gabriel hopped on Ethan's back, holding Ethan's arms down with one of his own. He used his free hand to search Ethan's pockets. That was when he found the flash drive. He held it up to the light with a victorious grin.
"Now, I'll have control."