Chapter 1 - The Digital Breadcrumb
I stood on the bustling Seattle sidewalk, the cold drizzle soaking into my tailored Tom Ford suit, staring at the glowing screen of my phone. The message was impossible. My private number was a closely guarded fortress, known only to my head of security, my chief of staff, and three board members. It was unlisted, encrypted, and untraceable.
Yet, a dying woman in a hospital bed had just bypassed million-dollar security protocols to send me a picture of the little girl I had bought shoes for twenty minutes ago.
I didn't call my driver. I called Vance.
Vance was an ex-Navy SEAL who ran my private security firm. He answered on the first ring. "Sir?"
"Vance, I just received a text with an image attachment from an unknown number. I need it traced immediately. I don't care about the encryption. Hack the cell towers. Find out exactly what hospital bed that photo was taken from."
"Give me two minutes," Vance said. The line went dead.
I paced the sidewalk, my heart hammering against my ribs. The specialists told me I only have a few weeks left. The words echoed in my mind. Who was she? Why was her daughter wearing rags while the mother possessed the technological capability to bypass corporate firewalls?
My phone vibrated. Vance.
"Boss," Vance's voice was tight. "The signal bounced through three offshore proxies, but the metadata on the image gave it away. It was taken at Seattle Memorial Hospital. Oncology wing. Room 412. But there's something else..."
"What is it?"
"The backdoor code used to access your personal cell frequency... it's a legacy code. From Sterling Technologies. A code that was officially decommissioned six years ago after your brother's fatal car crash."
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The breath left my lungs. My younger brother, Thomas, had been my only remaining family until his Aston Martin went over a cliff in what the police ruled a tragic accident.
"Get the SUV," I ordered, my voice turning to ice. "We are going to Seattle Memorial. Now."
