Chapter 6 - The Dead Drop
The thick white fire suppression foam completely blinded Tommy.
He fired his shotgun blindly into the air, the blast echoing like a cannon in the garage.
Dante lunged forward through the chemical snowstorm.
He struck Tommy across the temple with the heavy barrel of his pistol.
The massive enforcer collapsed onto the concrete and did not move.
Dante grabbed the keys from Emily and unlocked the armored SUV.
They climbed inside, and Dante slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
The heavy vehicle smashed through the wooden security barrier and sped out into the rainy Chicago streets.
Emily sat in the passenger seat, gasping for air.
Her hands were still covered in elevator grease and blood.
"We need to go to Evanston right now," Emily demanded.
"If we drive straight to the facility, we are walking into a trap," Dante replied, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Clara's men will be waiting to ambush us."
"Then what are we going to do?" Emily cried, panic rising in her chest.
"We are going to take away her leverage," Dante said coldly.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a sleek, encrypted laptop.
He handed it to Emily.
"Plug the flash drive in."
Emily inserted the drive, and the screen illuminated her pale face.
"Clara wants this ledger because it contains the access codes to the syndicate's master accounts," Dante explained.
"There is five hundred million dollars sitting in a series of Swiss shell banks."
"If Clara kills your brother, she knows I will lock the accounts forever."
"She needs me alive to authenticate the transfer."
Emily typed rapidly, pulling up the complex banking interface.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked.
"I want you to transfer every single penny into a completely untraceable dead drop account," Dante ordered.
Emily stared at him in absolute shock.
"You want to give away your entire empire?"
"My empire died nine years ago," Dante said softly.
"I am just cleaning up the ashes."
Emily nodded and began executing the complex sequence of wire transfers.
She routed the money through a dozen different dummy corporations to erase the digital trail.
"It is done," Emily said, hitting the final execution key.
"The money is sitting in a blind trust that only I have the password to."
Dante picked up his cell phone and dialed a scrambled number.
Clara answered on the first ring.
"Do you have my ledger, Dante?" she asked sweetly.
"I have something better," Dante replied.
"Emily just transferred all five hundred million dollars into a blind trust."
"If your sniper touches one hair on her brother's head, you will never see a single dime."
Silence stretched over the phone line for several long seconds.
"You are bluffing," Clara finally hissed.
"Check your Cayman routing servers," Dante challenged her.
He waited as Clara confirmed the accounts were completely empty.
"What are your terms?" Clara asked, her elegant voice now dripping with absolute hatred.
"Meet us at the abandoned railyard on the West Side in thirty minutes," Dante said.
"Bring the boy, and we will trade the password for his life."
Dante hung up the phone and looked at Emily.
"Are you ready to meet the ghost?" he asked.
Emily pulled the flash drive from the laptop and placed it in her pocket.
She looked at the man who had terrified her for months.
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"I am going to make her wish she stayed dead," Emily promised.
Before Dante could turn the steering wheel, a massive garbage truck ran the red light and slammed directly into the side of their SUV.
