The second node was under the abandoned data-warehouse near the river. Sensors detected a swarm of repurposed delivery bots. E‑SWAT’s drones nicknamed Rook and Bishop danced through rusted pallets, blue tracer-lasers picking off control beacons. Kira dove into the mesh from a secure uplink mounted on the roof — her avatar a silver fox slinking through packets. Inside, the Syndicate’s firewall took the shape of a snarling jackal. She baited it with a decoy shard while Arin’s squad moved through the warehouse corridors, clearing rooms and cuffing operators with wetware overrides.