THE LULLABY KEY : THE FALL
CHAPTER 33: The Deactivation
The kill switch was real.
Lena had discovered it in the vault’s deepest layer, buried beneath layers of encryption and false leads. Her father hadn’t lied about everything. Just most things.
The kill switch was designed to shut down the power grid in fourteen states. Not immediately. Gradually. Over seventy-two hours. Just enough time for people to panic, but not enough time to fix the problem.
It was a weapon of last resort. A way to force Marchetti’s hand. A way to make sure that if Julian Crane died, the whole country would feel the pain.
But Julian hadn’t died. He had been murdered.
And now the kill switch was active, counting down to zero.
“TIME REMAINING: 42:11:03”
Forty-two hours.
Lena stood in the Swarm’s new command center—a converted warehouse in Baltimore, filled with computers and monitors and exhausted people. Zero was at the main console, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
“The kill switch is hardwired into the grid,” Zero said. “We can’t just turn it off. We have to physically disable the servers that control it.”
“How many servers?”
“Seven. Located in seven different states. Each one guarded by Aegis personnel.”
Marcus studied the map on the screen. “We need seven teams. Simultaneous strikes. If we take out one server and not the others, the kill switch activates automatically.”
Lena’s stomach dropped. “So we have to hit all seven at the same time. With no room for error.”
“Correct.”
“How many people do we have?”
Zero counted. “Twenty-three. Including us.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It’s going to have to be.”
Lena turned to Marcus. “Can you lead one of the teams?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll lead another. Zero will lead a third. We need four more leaders. People we trust. People who can fight.”
Zero pulled up a list of names. “The Swarm has operatives all over the country. Former military. Former intelligence. People who’ve been waiting for a chance like this.”
“Call them. Tell them we move in twenty-four hours.”
Lena walked to the map.
Seven states. Seven servers. Seven targets.
She pointed to the one nearest to her: New York. The Crane mansion. The sub-basement. The server her father had hidden beneath his own house.
“I’ll take New York.”
Marcus touched her arm. “That’s the most dangerous. Aegis knows you’ll go there. They’ll be waiting.”
“Then I’ll give them a welcome they won’t forget.”
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number she had memorized but never used.
“Chloe. I need your help.”
The First Daughter’s voice was tired but steady. “What do you need?”
“I need you to create a distraction. Something big. Something that will pull Aegis’s attention away from the servers.”
“What kind of distraction?”
“The kind that makes the President look guilty.”
Chloe was silent for a moment. Then she said, “I can do that. But you won’t like how.”
“Tell me.”
“I’m going to give an interview. To every news outlet. I’m going to tell them everything. About my father. About Marchetti. About the murders. I’m going to burn my family to the ground.”
Lena closed her eyes. “Chloe, that will destroy you.”
“My family already destroyed me. This is just the funeral.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
Lena hung up.
She looked at the map. At the seven targets. At the forty-two hours on the clock.
“Let’s go save the country.”