Page 86 of The Knight

She was out of time, but a sliver of hope remained.

The kill switch.

She could still make a difference. She just had to access the switch without Korolov realizing what she was doing.

The digital keypad was smooth under her fingertips.

Gunfire erupted from outside.Gunfire?

She didn’t dare hope it was Abe and his team. How would they have found her?

The harsh chatter of more gunfire sounded. This time in the house. Downstairs?

His gun bumped against her temple as Korolov tensed. She squeezed her eyes tight, waiting for it to go off.

Instead, he spoke to the two men guarding the inside of the library door. “Whoever that is. Go end them.”

The men nodded and then were gone. It was just her and Korolov now.

He bent low so his mouth brushed her ear. “Don’t think that your friends are coming to save you because they are not. My men will eradicate them like the vermin they are and you will give me what I want now.” The safety on his gun released with a soft click under pressure from his thumb.

Freya hit the cursor and the screen shimmered. She pressed her forefinger to the digital keypad and waited for the secondary measures to confirm access approval.

The device beeped.Access granted.

Code scrolled.

The gunfire escalated, and then an explosion of shattering glass and the thunder of a car engine.

“What the—” Korolov stalked across the room to the window. He continued to aim his gun at her, and her legs were tied to the chair, but he was no longer watching what she did.

Her hands flew over the keyboard, accessing the kill switch that would wipe the archive.

“What the fuck?” Korolov spread one hand flat on the dark glass, his attention still outside.

Nearby, the car engine revved, followed by the screech of metal tearing and men shouting.

What was going on?

Abe and the others? Fox? Leo?

She hadn’t thought it possible. How would they have known where she was and to get here in such a short space of time? But who else could it be?

The screen flickered, and a dialogue box appeared.

Do you wish to delete all files associated with the Central Archive?

The cursor blinked. Waiting.

She’d made her peace with the consequences. This laptop and its contents had been her responsibility and she had allowed it to fall into the wrong hands. She couldn’t contemplate what a ruthless weapons dealer would do with this if he could put it on the black market. She couldn’t allow that to happen.

But this was months of work. Painstaking detailed work. Hours and hours?—

Fuck you, Korolov.

She hit delete.

The screen went black.

---