Ral's fingers flew across the keyboard while sweat dripped down his temples. Eighteen minutes remained before they would escalate from psychological t*****e to physical mutilation, and his daughter's face on that tablet haunted every keystroke.
"The second sequence is fragmenting," Ral announced, injecting calculated frustration into his voice. "Marcus embedded defensive protocols that corrupt data if extraction proceeds too quickly. I need to recalibrate or the entire system locks permanently."
The man in the expensive suit moved closer, his patience visibly fraying. "You are stalling, Mr. Anderson. Very dangerous choice given your family's circumstances."
"I am preventing total data loss," Ral shot back, not looking up from the cascading code on his screen. "Rush this and the files co
