Chapter 1040
Callum hauled over the laptop and dragged an extra chair up for Atticus to sit down and get cracking on hacking the surveillance system on the spot.
The pressure was on; they knew that Lysander might have already rallied his tech troops and started scouring the monitors.
A second’s delay could blow their cover wide open.
Wiping the surveillance footage clean was critical, a race against time.
Atticus booted up the laptop, and his little fingers danced across the keyboard at lightning speed. His cute, boyish features were a mask of serious concentration, so absorbed in his task that the world around him might as well not exist.
Thalassa, the other three kids, Evelyn, and Callum huddled around Atticus, watching in awe as his fingers blurred over the keys, almost creating afterimages.
They were all breathing slowly as if treading on eggshells, terrified of distracting him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the town, Lysander’s ten coding elites was also in nonstop action.
They’d just cracked the radar code and were gearing up to check the Starhaven surveillance when their screens went black. Not just one, but all ten.
The tech wizards were stunned.
“Mr. Sinclair, the footage has been wiped. It was all blank.” one of the programmers reported.
Lysander’s handsome face was as cold as an oncoming storm. How could he forget that his son, Atticus, was a computer prodigy?
“Get the terrestrial surveillance! With audio! Pull up every camera around Star Harbor Villa and check every road!” Lysander commanded with the authority he was born with.
He had personally witnessed the plane taking off from the Star Harbor Villa’s courtyard. The plane’s noise would be audible throughout its flight.
While ground traffic wouldn’t be disturbed by the flight, the sound of the plane would be unmistakable.
“Right away!”
The programmers got to work, each hacking into a different intersection’s surveillance feed.
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00:06
Chapter 1040
Back at the airport, Atticus finished erasing the Starhaven airspace footage and finally let a smile crack his concentrated expression. “Done.” he announced with a sense of triumph, snapping the laptop shut and wiping the sweat from his brow.
Callum was astounded – it had only taken two minutes!
The so-called best hacker in Starhaven had told him it would take at least five.
But Atticus did it in two, erasing the footage without a trace.
Callum was both surprised and enlightened. True talent could be found in the most unexpected places; those who boast about their skills weren’t necessarily the best.
“Alright, time to roll out.” Callum said, his tension easing now that the surveillance was out of the picture. Without it, Lysander would have a much tougher time tracking them. Their journey ahead was now a lot smoother.
He ushered Thalassa and the others onto a private jet bound for Weston Country.
Callum wouldn’t risk buying tickets and leaving a paper trail for Lysander to follow. Fortunately, the airline’s owner was an old friend who owed him a favor. Because of that, he secured for Callum seven unlisted seats on the flight with no check-in required.
This way, they could leave the country without leaving a trace. Even if Lysander tried, he
wouldn’t be able to find them.
They boarded the jet. Ten minutes later, it took off into the sky, heading for Weston Country.
Thalassa gazed out at the clouds through the window, seeing the sky a deeper blue, the clouds an even purer white, the golden sunlight filtering through them and casting a heavenly glow.
Breathing in deeply, Thalassa relished the view only available from high above, feeling a profound sense of relaxation.
This was the air of freedom, elusive and precious.
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