Chapter 6 - The Firewall
Jimmy's fingers danced across his custom-built keyboards, his eyes reflecting the rapid scroll of data.
Sofia stood beside him, guiding him through the labyrinth of Preston's custom encryption.
"This guy is good," Jimmy muttered, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. "He's got military-grade ICE protecting the main server."
"It's a dynamic firewall," Sofia explained. "It changes its security protocol every thirty seconds."
"If we try a brute-force upload from here, Preston's system will detect the intrusion and wipe the drives remotely before the upload finishes."
Anthony paced the small room, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.
"So, what's the solution?" Anthony demanded.
Sofia looked at Jimmy, and they both shared a grim understanding.
"We can't do it from the outside," Sofia said, turning to her father.
"We have to execute the upload command from a terminal inside the closed network."
"You mean we have to go back to the restaurant?" Anthony asked, horrified.
"Specifically, to the main server room in Marcus's office," Sofia confirmed.
"It's a suicide mission," Jimmy chimed in. "They'll have the place locked down tighter than Fort Knox."
Anthony stopped pacing. He looked at his hands, calloused and scarred from years of working in a fiery kitchen.
He had built that restaurant with his own blood, sweat, and tears.
He knew every secret door, every ventilation shaft, every blind spot in the building.
"No," Anthony said, his voice deadly calm. "It's my restaurant. Marcus is just a guest who overstayed his welcome."
He looked at Sofia. "Get the files ready for a physical upload. We're going home."
Jimmy handed Sofia a custom-made USB flash drive, encased in heavy metal.
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"This is a digital battering ram," Jimmy said. "Plug this into Marcus's terminal, and it will forcefully open the gates. But you'll only have five minutes before the system physically melts down."
"Five minutes is all we need," Anthony said, pulling his baseball cap back on.
