“I need to mirror the connection profile first,” I said.

I set my tablet on top of the transformer housing.

My hands were shaking slightly, but I kept my fingers steady as I connected a diagnostic cable from my tablet to the black device.

The tablet screen flashed with new lines of code.

The data was flowing at ninety megabytes per second.

“They’re almost finished,” I said. “The progress bar is at ninety-two percent.”

“How long?” Hayes asked.

“Two minutes,” I said. “Maybe less.”

Outside in the corridor, the sound of the alarm suddenly changed pitch, turning into a continuous, high-frequency squeal.

“They’re purging the system,” Hayes said.

He stepped back toward the doorway, his eyes scanning the dark corridor.

“Sarah, we need to move,” he said.

“I’ve got the MAC address of the receiver,” I said, pulling the diagnostic cable free.

I reached into the junction box and ripped the black device off the rail.

The blue fiber cables snapped with a sharp click.

The status light on the device went dark.

“The link is severed,” I said, dropping the device into my equipment bag.