128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Signal | Part 2

"Clearance code required?" Matthew gasped, frowning as he stared at the computer screen carefully. He then came to the realisation that he couldn't just input the functions and expect them to run.

Of course not. It was a security feature to prevent unexpected visitors like him from running functions that had hazards. And he knew there was much more to it than it seemed.

Just as Matthew had exited the elevator, a wall of partial height surrounding it had a sign on it. And it warned of radio frequencies being transmitted by the antenna, which could cause health issues like tissue damage and an increase in body temperature. Even if it paled in comparison to the effects of radiation, it was hazardous enough to need a security feature to prevent such things from occurring.

As such, he walked away from the transmitter for a moment, pushing the door as he left the room temporarily. He moved towards the chairwoman, who was still in quite a daze after getting hit in the face with a gun earlier. Megan watched as he approached the chairwoman, his face filled with anger.

Matthew grabbed the chairwoman up forcefully by her collars, shaking her to her senses. Her eyes still resisted the urge to open fully, but Matthew wasn't going to go easy on her. He was going to do everything he could to get the clearance code to override the security programme on the transmitter. "What's the code, Georgia?" he bellowed as he tried to force the information out of the chairwoman.

She, however, was rather resistant. She didn't have any plans to give out any information. She just looked over the edge of the building, watching the fires and blazes that began to appear all over the city. And Philadelphia was just beginning to look a lot like New York. Either way, she wasn't going to say anything, all so that her plan could succeed.

"I said tell me the clearance code!" Matthew yelled, shaking her even more violently.

The chairwoman began cackling uncontrollably. She couldn't stop snickering, and it got on Matthew's nerves. It was almost as if she was so immersed in the world of succeeding in her plans, and so much so that it exempted her from the consequences. However, Matthew made sure that she wasn't going to make it past that day if she refused to comply.

He then knocked the chairwoman out again with her own gun, which he had taken from her earlier. Megan gasped in shock as the chairwoman collapsed once again. Now there was no way for them to get any more information out.

Or at least, she thought.

"The code is 2-5-1-5-1-2," Daniel revealed, which was the most unexpected person that Matthew was expecting to get anything out from. Even more unexpected than the chairwoman.

"You're not lying, are you?" Megan asked as she faced him with a look of disgust, even though he was assisting them. Just seeing his face made her retch as she thought about the psychotic thoughts that could be running through his mind at that moment.

"Why would I?" Daniel snickered. "I've got nothing to gain but nothing to lose—"

"Just shut it, will you?" Matthew lamented. He then looked away before moving back into the radio transmitter room.

He began focusing on getting the controls started up again. He started by entering the clearance code that Daniel had given first, which turned out to work. Despite this, Matthew didn't trust Daniel. After all, he could have had some other undisclosed agenda, and he wasn't really helping them.

Just as he was about to hit the "run function" command, however, Matthew stopped. His finger hovered above the button, but he made no contact with it. He stopped to think about the effects of the radio frequency that he was about to release. At a close distance, it was capable of causing tissue damage already.