Chapter 3 THE FALL
ADRIAN POV
“Adrian, move. Now.”
Before I could even process the shadow in the doorway, I recognized the voice.
Marcus Hale.
The door slid open and Marcus slipped inside, pulling it shut behind him slowly.
I stared at him, my chest hammering. “How did you get here?”
“Questions later.” His eyes flicked toward the security camera above us. “We have less than a minute, Adrian.” He said as he moved forward.
“I know but I’m not leaving without the Apex core.”
Marcus stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at me like I’d completely lost my mind. “Adrian, the entire facility is hunting you right now.”
“I know. But if I leave without it, whoever did this can erase every trace.” I said quietly, avoiding the security from hearing us.
I pointed my finger toward the main workstation.
“Someone is controlling Apex with my credentials. So I need it to prove my innocence.”
Marcus stared at me for a moment, his jaw clenching before letting out a frustrated breath. “Fine, thirty seconds.”
“I can’t access it, remember?”
He let out a deep sign before we both moved to the emergency access panel beside the server wall and he entered his own sequence numbers.
“Will your authorization still work?” I asked. Since you’re not the project director.”
Marcus didn’t answer me. He simply entered the code like he already believed it would work.
A soft click sounded. A section of the wall unlocked and popped forward, revealing the access bay.
I stared, shocked. “It actually opened. How?” I whispered, reaching straight inside the housing to yank the Apex Core free before Marcus could change his mind.
“I don’t know, probably because I worked here longer than you have.”
Marcus entered another sequence code without explaining it.
Suddenly another wall opened.
“You knew about a hidden exit?” I asked, my voice sounding cracked.
He didn’t reply me again.
I followed him through the narrow passage still holding the core system tightly behind me, as a heavy bang shook the office door behind us. The sound of heavy boots rushed into the office.
For the first time since the incident began, I heard the sound of my own breathing. It was too fast. I clenched my fists so hard, trying to stop the shiver in my hands.
We reached the lower service corridor.
Marcus stopped beside a big security door and looked at me, his eyes dark. “So Apex locked you out?”
“Yes.”
“Did it reject your credentials immediately?”
“Both administrator codes.”
His expression hardened like stone. “Hmmm,” he said as he lowered his voice, leaning in close. “The system doesn’t just manually do that. It checks your entire biometric authorization chain first.”
I had a thought about what he said.
“Wait! If my credentials are being accepted for the commands but rejected when I try to stop them…”
“Then whoever is doing this isn’t just using your password,” Marcus finished for me.
“They’ve altered the authorization chain.” I whispered, the cold reality hitting me.
Now this was clear.
This was not a random hacker. It was someone who understood every single line of code I had written.
Suddenly Marcus pulled a small black access card from his pocket.
“Take this, use it and the core to find out whatever happened. It keeps a deeper record that most people don’t even know exists.”
My pulse quickened instantly. “How did you know?”
He ignored me, again. This was the third time.
The moment he was about to hand over the card.
Another alarm sounded, louder and more urgent this time. The overhead lights shifted from blue to pulsing red.
Marcus looked toward the corridor door. I quickly grabbed the card from his hand. I wasn’t ready to miss anything that would help me find evidence.
I spotted an emergency extraction tool on the floor, grabbed it and shoved it into my pocket.
“Let's move”. I said sharply.
Then footsteps thundered somewhere beyond the corridor door. Dozens of them.
“I didn't lock the bulkhead wall behind us,” Marcus said, a flash of panic breaking through his voice as he realized his mistake.
Marcus violently pushed me toward the exit. “Go!”
I stopped. “What about you?”
“I’ll slow them down.”
“No. I’m not leaving you!”
“Adrian.”
“I said no, Marcus!”
His expression hardened into something cold. “Listen to me! You’re carrying the only piece of Apex that can prove what actually happened here! If they catch you, this entire truth dies with you.”
“I can fight my way out with you!”
“You can barely breathe right now!” he shouted back, dragging my jacket.
I opened my mouth to argue, but Marcus stepped up, his voice low. “Listen to me Adrian,” he said, his eyes locking into mine. “Whatever Apex shows you from now on, don’t assume it’s the truth.”
I frowned, through the panic. “What does that mean?”
“Find out.”
BANG!
The door behind us shook violently.
Marcus shoved the emergency exit open. “Go!” He barked.
I stumbled into the emergency passage.
The door slammed shut behind me. I stood there in the dark for half a second.
Then a single gunshot cracked through the door. I froze. For one terrible second, my body refused to move.
“Marcus…”
Another sound followed. The sound of a body hitting the floor.
My chest burned. I didn't run because I wasn't afraid, I ran because Marcus had just bought me a chance with his life.
I forced myself to turn and run. Not because I wasn’t afraid. Yes! I was already sweating, panting but because Marcus had just traded his own life to give me a single chance to survive.
The staircase led down three floors before opening into a service tunnel beneath the facility.
I ran until my lungs felt hot. I didn’t stop until I reached the opposite exit into the outside world.
The cold air hit my face.
I stepped into an alley and pressed my back against the wall, sliding down gently, trying to catch my breath.
Across the road, a massive holographic screen flickered to life, illuminating the street in harsh yellow light.
BREAKING NEWS
PROJECT APEX SUFFERS DISASTROUS SECURITY BREACH
The display refreshed. A massive photograph appeared across the screen.
It was my face.
ADRIAN KANE NAMED PRIME SUSPECT IN PROJECT APEX SABOTAGE
My chest tightened so hard, I couldn’t breathe properly. They were already broadcasting to the entire city that I was a terrorist.
I looked down at the damaged Apex Core in my hand, feeling heavy.
Three years of work. My name. Everything I’d built was collapsing before I could even defend myself.
And Marcus was still inside. I didn’t know if he was alive. I didn’t dare let myself think about the alternative.
I looked back at the screen.
AUTHORIZED BY: ADRIAN KANE
My eyes narrowed as I stared at the screen. I stepped closer, checked the timestamp.
It showed fourteen minutes.
This means the authorization had been created fourteen minutes before the security breach. They hadn’t framed me after Apex failed. They had built the failure around me before now.
And whoever did it had been planning my downfall long before I knew I was in danger.
