Novels by Talia .E.

Clara’s POV"The brakes are engaging automatically, Marcus, so hit the emergency manual override right now," I yelled, my fingers gripping the cold steel handle of the internal wall support as the freight elevator shrieked."The terminal is completely dead, Clara," Marcus shouted back from the primary control panel, his palm slamming hard against the unresponsive touch screen. "Victor's countermeasure code just jammed the secondary circuits from the main office. We are totally frozen.""Are we dropping," Nikolai asked, his voice low and incredibly strained as he leaned his massive frame heavily against the left corner of the metal cage."No, boss, we are jammed tight," Marcus said, pulling a mechanical crowbar from his tactical pack. "The backup emergency clamps locked onto the secondary guide rails. We are hanging suspended right between the fourth and fifth floors.""We are sitting ducks in this metal box," I said, looking up toward the rectangular maintenance hatch on the ceiling.

Clara’s POV"Initiate the bypass sequence on the main grid right now," Nikolai ordered, his fingers flying across the glowing keyboard of the tactical laptop resting on his knees."I am routing the connection through the secondary proxy servers," Marcus replied from the front driver seat, keeping his eyes on the dark road ahead. "But Victor upgraded the entire mainframe after the harbor incident. The firewalls are incredibly thick.""I do not care about his new upgrades or his expensive firewalls," Nikolai said, his voice cold and completely devoid of panic. "I built the original backdoors for this corporate network ten years ago. He cannot erase my foundational code without destroying his own security system.""Are you going to shut down the entire tower," I asked, adjusting the heavy tactical vest against my chest."No," Nikolai answered, not looking away from the bright screen. "If I shut down the entire tower, the system will instantly recognize it as an external cyberattack. The

Clara’s POV"Hand me the heavy shears right now, Marcus, and do not tell me to leave it alone," I said, holding out my right hand without turning around from the small cracked mirror."Clara, you do not need to do this yourself," Marcus said, his heavy boots shifting against the cold concrete floor of the underground railway vault. "We have men who can handle the tactical disguises. You could stay behind with the secondary guard detail.""We are past the point of staying behind, Marcus," I countered, my voice completely flat as I gripped the cold steel handles of the industrial shears. "If my hair hangs down outside the rim of that tactical security helmet, Victor's advance scouts will pull me out of the line before we even clear the subterranean freight elevators. I am not letting a few inches of dead weight get me killed tonight."I raised the heavy metal blades to my shoulder. With three quick, brutal snips, long locks of dark-dyed hair fell onto the grease-stained concrete floor.

Nikolai’s POV"The hardware on these dead guards is completely locked, Nikolai," Marcus said, stepping into the dim, cold light of the generator room. He slammed three rugged tactical tablets onto the metal table right beside my keyboard. "My tech guys cannot get past the biometric handshake. Victor’s people must have updated their encryption keys before they deployed the team to the museum.""They updated the external keys, Marcus, but they did not change the core operating system," I said, my fingers already flying across my mechanical keyboard as I plugged a data cable directly into the side port of the first swiped tablet. "Victor was always too cheap to pay for custom software. He used a standard commercial security frame from a foreign supplier five years ago. He thought a complex password was enough to keep the world out.""Can you crack it?" Clara asked. She was leaning against the heavy iron support pillar behind my chair, wearing my oversized flannel shirt. Her shoulders loo

Clara’s POV"Cover your ears and drop to the floor right now." Nikolai roared, his large hand slamming against the back of my neck to force me down onto the damp concrete."What is happening." Camille screamed, her hands clawing at her ears as the entire tunnel began to shake. "Is the roof falling down on us.""Just stay down and keep your mouth shut, Camille." I shouted back at her, my face pressed close to the cold ground.Before Camille could utter another single syllable, a deafening explosion shattered the silence of the lower levels. The heavy brick wall at the far end of the loading dock crumbled completely into dust as a massive steel bumper punched through the masonry. A heavy armored transport truck smashed through the debris, its massive tires spinning and screeching against the concrete floor. The smell of burning rubber and pulverized stone instantly filled the air, turning the narrow tunnel into a choking grey cloud."Nikolai, get inside the vehicle right now." Marcus ye

Nikolai’s POV"Drop your weapons and face the wall right now, Nikolai." a loud voice shouted from the entrance of the ancient history wing."You have to make me drop them first, gentlemen." I shouted back, crouching down immediately.A heavy blast of automatic gunfire ripped through the air before I could even take another breath. The bullets hit the large glass display case right above my head. Hundreds of sharp glass shards rained down on my shoulders, cutting through my suit jacket."Split up into two groups. Secure the left corridor and do not let him move." the team leader commanded from the dark."I am right here. Come and get me if you think you can." I yelled back, firing two quick shots from my pistol to keep them back.My bullets slammed into a stone pillar. I dragged my body behind a massive limestone Egyptian sarcophagus. A sharp, burning flash of pain shot straight up my left leg. The old injury from the docks was acting up again under the strain, but I forced my teeth to