Jon Harrison's Arc

Chapter 3 of 8

Jon disconnected the monitor and checked the frequency analyzer one more time. The fourth channel still resisted his decryption attempts, cycling through algorithms faster than his rig could break them. He'd need more processing power or a different approach entirely. A crackle from the relay speaker made him look up. The Rangers' encrypted channel had gone active—not the usual patrol chatter, but a tight-beam transmission using military cipher protocols. Jon pulled the mechanical decryption device from under his workbench, the one he'd salvaged from an old Enclave cache. He connected it to the relay and watched the cipher wheels spin behind the glass panel, working through the encryption layers. The keypad clicked as it locked onto the pattern. Words scrolled across the small screen: "Deploy Sarah Burks and Margo Holland to Sierra Army Depot. Creature confirmed active. Secure server room before total loss." Jon sat back, processing the implications. The Rangers were moving now, which meant they'd cracked enough of the depot's defenses to risk entry. Sarah and Margo would establish a field base outside the perimeter, probably with tracking equipment to monitor the creature's electromagnetic signature. He recognized the setup from the copper circuit briefcase they'd requisitioned last week—a mobile EM detection array. The Rangers would reach the server room before he cracked the fourth channel, and once they secured it, his access window closed permanently. He powered down the decryption rig and grabbed his field pack. The old mining access point fifteen miles east would get him into the research wing before the Rangers even cleared the main entrance. He couldn't decrypt the files remotely anymore—that opportunity had just died with this transmission. But he could still reach them first, copy what he needed, and disappear before Sarah and Margo ever knew he'd been there. The Rangers had forced his hand. Now he'd have to go in blind.