BAIT AND SWITCH
1145 Words
Chapter 4: Bait and Switch
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The van didn’t stop.
Lucas drove. Maya navigated. Ava typed.
Behind them, 4 men were sweeping the last safehouse.
In front of them, 48 hours until Castillo realized the fake code was fake.
"We have one shot at this," Lucas said, eyes on the road. "One."
"Then we don’t miss," Ava replied. Her fingers hadn’t stopped since the flashback.
On her screen: 32 digits. The real code.
Next to it: a second string. Identical. Except for one number. Changed.
A trap.
Maya looked at the map. "Abandoned data center. South of Manila. That’s where Castillo’s running Nightfall from."
"How sure?"
"90%," Maya said. "I’ve been tracking their power usage for 2 years. Spiked 300% last week."
"Good enough," Lucas said. "We hit them there."
Ava stopped typing. "Wait. We’re attacking?"
"We’re baiting," Lucas corrected. "You’re going to ‘surrender’ the code. We’re going to let them think they won. Then we break it from the inside."
"And if they kill me before that?"
"They won’t," Lucas said. Too fast. "Because I won’t let them."
Maya snorted. "Protocol’s out the window, huh Ghost?"
Lucas didn’t answer.
---
THE PLAN:
Step 1: Ava sends a message to Castillo. `I have the real code. Meet me.`
Step 2: They meet at the data center. "Neutral ground."
Step 3: Ava inputs the code. The trap triggers. Nightfall crashes.
Step 4: While chaos, Lucas and Maya take out Castillo’s team.
Step 5: Run.
"Step 5 is my favorite part," Maya said, loading magazines.
Ava stared at her laptop. "What if it doesn’t work? What if I did the math wrong?"
Lucas reached over. Stopped her hands.
"It’ll work," he said. "Because you’re smarter than him. And smarter than me."
Ava pulled her hands back. "Don’t."
"Don’t what?"
"Be nice to me right now. I can’t think when you’re nice."
Lucas nodded. Went back to driving.
---
3 HOURS LATER. THE DATA CENTER.
It looked abandoned. Broken windows. Weeds.
But the power lines were new. And there were cameras on every corner.
"4 guards outside," Maya whispered through comms. "2 on roof."
"Positions?" Lucas asked.
"I’m on the water tower. 200 meters. I have eyes on the main door."
"Copy." Lucas parked the van 3 blocks away. "Ava. You ready?"
Ava was pale. But her hands were steady.
"Yeah. Let’s end this."
She got out. Alone. Laptop bag on her shoulder.
Lucas watched from the alley, rifle ready.
Maya watched from above.
Ava walked to the front gate.
The door opened. Two men. Same suits from Rizal Park.
"Ms. Reyes," one said. "General Castillo is waiting."
They patted her down. Took her phone. Left the laptop.
"They want the code intact," the guard said. "Don’t break it."
Ava smiled. "I wouldn’t dream of it."
Inside was cold. Server racks everywhere. Blue lights. The hum of machines.
At the center, on a raised platform, was General Castillo.
And a terminal. A big one. Connected to a satellite dish on the roof.
"Welcome," Castillo said. "To the future."
"Where’s the future part?" Ava asked. "Looks like a basement to me."
Castillo laughed. "Your father would be proud. So defiant."
"Don’t talk about my father."
"But I have to," Castillo said. "Because he built this. And you’re going to finish it."
He gestured to the terminal. "The code, please."
Ava set her laptop down. Opened it.
Her hands hovered over the keys.
`7-4-4-9-2-8-1-6...`
She typed. Slow. Deliberate.
Lucas had a bead on Castillo’s head from the doorway.
Maya had 3 guards in her scope.
`...G-K-M-T-3-9-0-1...`
Halfway.
Castillo was smiling. "That’s it. That’s my girl."
`...4-4-4-0-7-2...`
Lucas’s finger hovered on the trigger.
`...9-1-8-3-5`
Enter.
The screen flashed.
`CODE ACCEPTED`
`INITIALIZING NIGHTFALL 2.0`
Castillo threw his head back and laughed. "It’s done! It’s—"
The lights flickered.
Alarms.
`ERROR. FATAL SYSTEM FAILURE`
`CORE CORRUPTED`
`SHUTDOWN INITIATED`
Castillo’s smile dropped. "What did you do?"
"I changed one number," Ava said quietly. "Dad always said I was good at details."
Chaos.
"NOW!" Lucas yelled.
Glass shattered. He was through the door, firing.
Maya dropped two guards from the tower.
Ava dropped to the floor, covering her head.
"Get her!" Castillo screamed.
Two men grabbed for Ava.
Lucas shot the first. Elbowed the second. Grabbed Ava and pulled her up.
"Run!"
They ran.
Behind them, servers were sparking. The trap had worked. The entire Nightfall network was eating itself.
But Castillo’s men were still shooting.
Maya covered them from the catwalk. "Left! Door!"
Lucas kicked the door open. Stairwell. Down.
Bullets chased them.
They burst out the back. Into the rain.
The van was there. Maya was already driving.
Lucas shoved Ava in. Jumped in after.
"Go go go!"
Tires screamed.
In the rearview, Castillo was standing in the doorway of the burning data center.
Not running. Not shooting.
Just watching.
He raised his phone.
Lucas saw it.
"Down!" Lucas tackled Ava.
The explosion hit 3 seconds later.
The data center blew. Fireball into the sky.
The shockwave rocked the van.
Maya swerved but kept control. "Everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Lucas breathed. He was on top of Ava.
"Get off me," Ava coughed. "I’m fine. I’m fine."
Lucas rolled off. Checked her. "You’re bleeding."
"It’s not mine," Ava said. She was shaking. "It’s not mine."
Silence. Only sirens in the distance.
Maya drove. Fast. Away from the fire.
Ava looked at her hands. They were steady.
"I did it," she whispered. "I killed it."
"You saved a lot of people," Lucas said.
"By lying," Ava said. "By using his code."
"By being better than him," Lucas corrected.
Ava laughed. A broken, wet sound. "He used to say that. ‘Be better, Ava.’"
Lucas didn’t know what to say. So he didn’t say anything.
10 minutes later, Maya pulled into an underground garage.
"Safehouse 3," Maya said. "No one knows about this one."
They got out.
Ava was exhausted. But she was walking on her own.
Inside, Lucas immediately checked all exits.
Maya made coffee.
Ava sat on the couch. Staring at nothing.
Lucas sat across from her. "You okay?"
"No," Ava said honestly. "But I will be."
"Good."
"Ghost?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For not letting them take me."
Lucas nodded. He didn’t trust his voice.
Protocol says: Protect the asset.
Protocol says: Mission complete.
But the asset was looking at him like he was the only solid thing in the room.
And Lucas didn’t know what protocol said about that.
Maya handed them both coffee. "So. What now?"
Lucas looked at Ava.
"Now," he said, "we disappear. For real this time."
Ava nodded. "Okay. But not to the province."
"Where then?"
Ava smiled. Small. Tired. "Somewhere with wifi. I have things to build now. Not break."
Lucas almost smiled back.
Outside, the city burned.
Inside, for the first time in 2 years, the Ghost felt like he could breathe.
END OF CHAPTER 4
- Writer
