Chapter 1: The Lockdown
Chapter 1: The Lockdown
Silence consumed the ballroom.
No one laughed anymore.
The orchestra had stopped playing.
Champagne flutes trembled in nervous hands.
The man who had thrown me against the marble wall took one uncertain step backward.
"What is this?"
I calmly brushed the dust from my torn sleeve.
"My building."
His forehead creased.
"No..."
"Yes."
I reached into my purse and removed a sleek black access card.
The emblem engraved across its surface wasn't the charity's logo.
It was the crest of Blackridge Holdings.
The company that owned this hotel.
The surrounding office tower.
The underground security complex.
And every inch of property within three city blocks.
The ballroom doors hadn't been locked by the event organizers.
They had been locked by my command.
A dozen security monitors hidden behind decorative mirrors suddenly illuminated.
Every camera angle appeared at once.
Every guest.
Every exit.
Every movement.
Then every television screen inside the ballroom switched on.
A single sentence appeared.
SECURITY PROTOCOL ALPHA ACTIVATED.
NO ONE LEAVES UNTIL THE INVESTIGATION IS COMPLETE.
Panic spread faster than fire.
Phones came out immediately.
No signal.
No internet.
No outgoing calls.
The building's internal security network had overridden every wireless system.
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For the first time in years...
The city's most powerful people had nowhere to run.
