Story 363: The Code

Zara Kincaid pressed her back against the cold steel wall, her Glock steady in her gloved hands. The soft hum of the console in front of her was the only sound in the dimly lit control room. The flickering monitor displayed encrypted data streams, a digital maze she had to decode to access the central archives. Every second counted; the mercenaries would soon realize she wasn’t among the dead in the fiery chaos she'd left behind.

Her dark eyes scanned the keypad. It wasn’t just about entering numbers—it was a sequence, a puzzle designed to stall anyone who didn’t have clearance. She had dealt with such locks before, back when her life involved securing high-profile assets rather than destroying them.

Her earpiece buzzed softly. It was Vex, her ally and hacker on the outside. “Zara, I’ve patched into the system. You’ve got thirty seconds before the failsafe kicks in.”