The biting wind of the Swiss Alps whipped violently against the heavy steel blast doors of the decommissioned Vanguard bunker.
Kai Ravens stood ankle-deep in the fresh, driving snow, holding a portable thermal generator. Beside him, Jessa was huddled inside a thick arctic parka, her bare fingers flying across a ruggedized decryption terminal wired directly into the bunker’s analog keypad.
"Are we through the primary firewall?" Kai asked, his voice barely carrying over the howling wind.
"I'm trying, Kai, but this isn't standard ICE," Jessa shouted back, her breath pluming in the freezing air. "The encryption algorithm keeps shifting! Every time I mirror the handshake, the node rewrites its own access protocols."
"It's a dead bunker, Jessa," Kai said, stepping closer to shield her screen
