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Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Blackout
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2026-08-06 00:15:20Darkness swallowed the executive floor.
For a fraction of a second, the city outside vanished.
Silverfang Tower, usually visible from every corner of the financial district, disappeared into the night like a ship sinking beneath black water.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
Dim red strips illuminated the corridors.
Not enough to work.
Just enough to move.
Marcus was the first to speak.
"The backup generators..."
His voice trembled.
"They should have activated."
Inspector Mara Voss reached for her radio.
Only static answered.
"No signal."
One of the officers checked his phone.
"No network."
Another looked up from his tablet.
"The building's internal servers are offline."
Ronan frowned.
"Not offline."
"What?"
"They've been isolated."
He walked to the window overlooking the city.
Every building surrounding Silverfang remained brightly lit.
Traffic continued below.
Only Silverfang Tower had gone dark.
"This wasn't a power failure," he said quietly.
"It was a quarantine."
My pulse slowed.
Someone had deliberately cut the tower off from the outside world.
Marcus hurried to one of the computer terminals.
He pressed the power button.
Nothing.
"The board records..."
"The financial servers..."
"The shareholder database..."
Everything was dead.
Inspector Voss looked at me.
"If someone planned this..."
"They're about to make a move."
A soft chime interrupted us.
Not from the computers.
From my desk.
The old-fashioned desk telephone.
The only device still working.
It rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
No caller ID.
No display.
Just the steady sound of a landline.
Marcus looked at me.
"Don't answer."
Ronan disagreed.
"Answer."
I picked up the receiver.
"This is Adrian Vale."
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a calm male voice spoke.
"Chairman."
I had never heard the voice before.
"You've been asking the wrong question."
I remained silent.
The man continued.
"You're trying to discover who controls Genesis."
"So?"
"You should be asking..."
A brief pause.
"...who controls Silverfang today."
The line clicked.
Another voice replaced the first.
One I recognized immediately.
Chairman Arthur Hale.
"Adrian."
His voice sounded weak.
"They've reached the boardroom."
My grip tightened around the receiver.
"Hale?"
"They're forcing the directors to sign."
"Sign what?"
"I don't know."
His breathing became uneven.
"I couldn't stop them."
A loud crash echoed somewhere behind him.
Then shouting.
A gunshot.
The line filled with interference.
"Hale!"
His voice returned.
Fainter now.
"Listen carefully."
"You don't have time to save everyone."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"You must choose."
Another explosion echoed through the receiver.
"The board..."
A cough.
"...or the shareholders."
The line went dead.
Marcus stared at me.
"What happened?"
I slowly lowered the phone.
"Hale says the boardroom is under attack."
Inspector Voss's expression hardened.
"We're going."
Before anyone moved, Ronan stepped in front of the office door.
"No."
Every eye turned toward him.
"The boardroom is on the forty-eighth floor."
"Yes."
"The shareholder records are on the forty-sixth."
Marcus frowned.
"So?"
Ronan looked directly at me.
"If you wanted to steal Silverfang..."
He paused.
"...which would matter more?"
I already knew the answer.
The board could elect a chairman.
The shareholders owned the company.
Destroy the ownership records...
Forge new ones...
And Silverfang could legally belong to someone else before sunrise.
Marcus whispered,
"My God..."
Inspector Voss looked between us.
"They're splitting us."
"Exactly."
One attack was visible.
The other was the real objective.
I closed my eyes for one brief moment.
Every instinct wanted to run to the boardroom.
My father had taught me something different.
A chairman protected the company first.
Even when it broke his heart.
I opened my eyes.
"Inspector."
"Yes?"
"You take your officers to the boardroom."
She nodded.
"And you?"
I looked at Ronan.
He already knew.
"We're going to the shareholder vault."
Marcus inhaled sharply.
"Just the two of you?"
"No."
Daniel stepped forward.
"You'll need someone who knows the old maintenance routes."
Mr. Rowan gave a small smile.
"And someone who knows the new ones."
The four of us turned toward the emergency stairwell.
Behind us, Inspector Voss led her officers toward the boardroom.
Two teams.
Two missions.
Only one of them could possibly arrive in time.
As the stairwell door swung shut behind us, the emergency lights flickered again.
For a fraction of a second, complete darkness filled the corridor.
In that instant...
Someone whispered directly beside my ear.
"Don't trust Ronan."
The lights returned immediately.
I spun around.
No one stood behind me.
Only Ronan.
Watching me with quiet concern.
"Adrian?"
I said nothing.
Because whoever had whispered...
Had known my greatest weakness wasn't fear.
It was doubt.
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