Chapter 56

"Gotcha, you motherfucking hacker." Max triumphantly typed another command on the keyboard. The laughing skull and crossbones disappeared from his screen and were replaced by views from the network of cameras that made up his elaborate surveillance system. The last several hours had been tortuous as Max battled an unknown intruder who had taken the security system hostage. The intrusion had occurred right around the same time that his phone warned him that a break-in was occurring at the Three Crosses Rehab Center. All attempts to reach David Chang at the center had failed miserably.

The hacker was good, and had matched Max turn for turn. It was nearly sunrise when Max finally found a backdoor into the network and was able to lock the intruder out of the system. Max quickly pulled up footage from earlier that night and started reviewing the different camera angles. The scene recorded by the camera hanging over the front desk at the rehab center made him scratch his head. Chang was dressed as an orderly, and everything was going to plan, until 3:03 AM. Then, abruptly, Chang jumped up and ran from sight.

Max was puzzled by Chang's action, until he reviewed the footage from Mitch's study. His jaw dropped when the strange looking, armored vehicle plowed through the wall, just to the right of the stone fireplace. Furniture and exercise equipment went flying, as the vehicle tore through the room. The two top mounted machine guns scanned the room. Then, two familiar figures emerged from their armored cocoon.