Chapter 3 - The Basement Console
Vance led Kate down through the private service stairs to the sub-basement server room—a fortified bunker hidden beneath the mansion's wine cellar. Marisol Vega was already there, bound to a chair with zip-ties, guarded by two of Vance’s private enforcers.
Kate gasped, dropping to her knees beside the head housekeeper. "Marisol! Are you okay?"
Marisol spat blood, her eyes fierce. "I told them I wouldn't leave my post. They tied me up because I tried to warn you when Preston went upstairs."
One of Vance’s men stepped forward with a knife, cutting the zip-ties instantly. Vance gestured for a medic to attend to Marisol’s bruised shoulder.
"She’s loyal," Vance observed, watching Marisol pull herself up. "Good. Loyalty is rare in this zip code."
"The master server is locked behind a biometric firewall," Marisol said, wincing as she massaged her wrists. "Only Senator Caldwell and the head IT administrator have the override keys. We can't broadcast the footage before the gala ends, or Preston's security detail will wipe the local drives."
Kate stood up, clutching her broken arm. She walked over to the glowing server rack, ignoring the throbbing pain. "You don't need the administrator. Preston used his father's master login to pull the file earlier this evening so he could alter the time stamps."
She typed rapidly with her left hand, her fingers flying across the auxiliary keyboard.
"What are you doing?" Vance asked, watching her with intense focus.
"Preston is lazy," Kate said, her eyes fixed on the rolling code. "He used his own personal birthday as the salt for the encryption key. He thinks nobody notices digital footprints because everyone is too afraid of his father."
With a sharp enter key stroke, the master server flashed green. The entire archive of the estate’s security feeds—including years of bribes, secret meetings between judges and lobbyists, and the library assault—downloaded directly onto an encrypted flash drive in Kate’s pocket.
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"Got it," Kate whispered.
Above them, the muted sound of applause echoed down through the stone foundations. The gala was ending. The guests were preparing to leave.
