Chapter 52: The Kill Switch

"Alex," Jackson's voice was tight. "How long?"

"48 hours," Alex replied, typing commands into the terminal. "The defrosting process is delicate. If we rush it, her cells will rupture."

A countdown clock appeared on the massive screen: 47:59:58.

Serenity watched the woman in the pod—Margaret, her mother-in-law. "Jackson, we can't stay down here for two days. We need food, medical supplies... and weapons."

"I'm not leaving her," Jackson said, his hand still pressed against the glass. He felt a wave of guilt. He had visited her grave every year, while she was frozen in a rock thousands of miles away, kept as a prisoner of his own family's legacy.

Suddenly, a red siren flashed on Alex's screen.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

[ WARNING: REMOTE TERMINATION PROTOCOL INITIATED ]

"What is that?" Serenity gasped.

"Someone knows!" Alex shouted, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "The system is receiving an external command. Someone is trying to turn off the life support!"

"What?" Jackson roared. "Stop it!"

"I'm trying! They have an admin key!" Alex grit his teeth. "They are shutting down the oxygen feed. Heart rate is dropping!"

In the pod, the blue light started to flicker red. Margaret’s peaceful face twitched. The monitors beeped erratically.

"Who is doing this?" Jackson looked ready to murder. "Where is the signal coming from? Stefan is in the dungeon. He can't do this!"

"Tracing..." Alex was sweating. "It's not coming from Montbert. It's a satellite link."

On the screen, a map of the world popped up. A red line traced the signal across the ocean.

"France... United Kingdom... Atlantic Ocean..." Alex tracked it live. "It's hitting the US East Coast. New York."

"New York?" Serenity whispered.

The red line zoomed in on Manhattan. Then, it zoomed into the suburbs. Into a specific estate.

Destination: Sterling Manor, Long Island, NY.

Jackson froze. That was his home. His main residence. The place where he grew up.

"It's coming from inside the house," Alex yelled. "Specifically... the Grand Study."

Jackson's eyes went wide. "Uncle Arthur."

Arthur Sterling. His father's younger brother. The man who raised Jackson after his parents 'died'. The kind, wheelchair-bound old man Jackson had trusted to watch over the company while he was in Europe.

"Arthur is trying to kill her," Jackson realized, the betrayal cutting deeper than any knife. "He knows we found the Vault."

"He's bypassing my firewall! I can't hold him!" Alex cried. "Daddy, he's going to stop her heart in 10 seconds!"

[ HEART RATE CRITICAL ]

Jackson pulled out his gun.

"Alex, move."

Jackson aimed at the main network cable box on the wall—the physical connection to the satellite dish.

"Jackson, if you shoot that, we lose internet! Alex can't hack anymore!" Serenity warned.

"I don't need internet. I need to sever the link!"

BANG!

Jackson fired three shots into the server box. Sparks flew. Smoke filled the room. The screens flickered and went black for a second.

Then, the backup generators kicked in.

The red lights turned back to blue.

The siren stopped.

Margaret’s heart rate stabilized on the monitor. [ LIFE SUPPORT: ONLINE ]

Alex slumped in his chair, exhaling. "Connection severed. We are offline. They can't touch her now."

Jackson holstered his smoking gun. His face was a mask of absolute fury.

"Uncle Arthur," Jackson whispered the name. "You taught me how to walk. You taught me how to do business. And all this time, you were the keeper of the dungeon."

He turned to Serenity and Alex.

"Change of plans. We are not just defending. We are hunting."

Jackson looked at the sleeping woman.

"We wait 48 hours for her to wake up. She has the answers. And once she tells us everything..." Jackson clenched his fist.

"I'm going back to New York to burn my own house down."

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