The monitor glows solid red, ninety nine percent. The archive door is sealed, and the boots outside stop just long enough to listen.
Clara
They are not coming to help us. They are coming to make this look tidy.
Dallas has the routing log in hand, the paper warm from the hidden mechanism. The cabinets hum like they are working against him.
Dallas Fontaine
The purge is ahead of them, but the paper is still real.
Clara
If they lock the hall and wipe the office, that log becomes the only thing standing between you and their version of events.
A hard click rolls through the vent, then the override noise starts again. Clara moves to the door, Dallas to the cabinets, both reading the room the same way.
Clara
Take the log. I will buy you a opening.
The hallway latch shudders. Whatever is outside is almost through.
Bypass the archive lockdown