I remembered how Martha had tried to hug Emma before they dragged her away.

“Martha was a good lady,” I said, brushing a stray curl from Emma’s cheek.

“She told me a secret before she went away,” Emma said, her voice barely audible over the hum of the computers.

“She said it was for when the house went dark.”

Before I could ask her what she meant, a loud explosion rattled the master bedroom.

The light fixtures overhead flickered violently.

On the desk, the green progress bar on the screen turned amber.

*Download Interrupted: Low Power Mode.*

“They hit the main generator,” Nathan shouted, typing furiously to keep the terminal from shutting down.

The auxiliary batteries kicked in, and the room was plunged into a dim, red emergency glow.

Through the heavy steel door, we heard the distinct, metallic grinding of a circular saw.

They were cutting through the frame.

“We need that data, Nathan,” I said, my voice rising.

“Without those logs, we can’t prove what Vanessa did to Claire.”

Nathan stared at the screen, his face shadowed in red.

“The encryption is locked tight,” he said.