Chapter 9 - The Last Stand
The Russian mercenaries raised their assault rifles and took aim at Dante.
Emily refused to let the man she had come to respect die in the mud.
She reached into her ruined skirt pocket and pulled out the small black flash drive.
"Wait!" Emily screamed at the top of her lungs.
"The money is not in that trust account!"
Leo raised his hand, signaling his men to hold their fire.
"What are you talking about?" Leo demanded, his confident smirk faltering.
"I lied to Clara," Emily said, holding the drive high in the air.
"I set up a delayed routing protocol."
"The password I gave her only accesses a decoy account holding a few thousand dollars."
"The real five hundred million is encrypted on this drive."
Dante stared at her, completely astonished by her quick thinking.
Leo's face twisted into an ugly mask of pure rage.
"Give me the drive, Emily," Leo commanded, stepping forward.
"Let Dante walk away, or I will crush this drive under my heel right now," Emily threatened.
"If it breaks, the decryption key is lost forever, and the money burns."
Leo weighed his options, his greedy eyes locked entirely on the small piece of plastic.
"Fine," Leo gritted his teeth.
"Let the dinosaur go."
"He has no empire left anyway."
Dante looked at Emily, his dark eyes filled with a mixture of awe and profound gratitude.
He slowly backed away toward the shadows of the rusted warehouse.
Emily waited until Dante was completely out of sight before she tossed the flash drive into the mud at Leo's feet.
Leo eagerly snatched it up and plugged it into his stolen tablet.
A progress bar appeared on the screen, reading "DECRYPTING."
"You always were too smart for your own good, Emily," Leo sneered.
"Take her back to the facility and lock her in my old room," Leo ordered his men.
Two mercenaries grabbed Emily roughly by the arms and dragged her toward a waiting van.
Leo watched the tablet screen intently.
The progress bar hit one hundred percent.
The screen suddenly flashed bright red.
A massive alarm siren blared from the tablet's speakers.
"What is this?" Leo shouted, hitting the screen frantically.
A single line of text appeared on the display.
"INITIATING SATELLITE TRACKING BEACON."
Emily smiled despite the rough hands holding her.
"I did not put the money on that drive, Leo," Emily yelled over the alarm.
"I put a federal tracking virus on it."
Suddenly, the deafening sound of helicopter rotors chopped through the night air.
Three FBI tactical helicopters descended rapidly over the railyard, casting blinding searchlights over the Russian mercenaries.
"FBI! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" a voice boomed from the sky.
Leo screamed in absolute frustration and drew his pistol to shoot Emily.
Before he could pull the trigger, a suppressed gunshot rang out from the roof of the warehouse.
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Leo dropped his gun and fell to his knees, clutching a bleeding wound in his shoulder.
Dante Marino stood on the edge of the roof, his sniper rifle smoking in the rain.
