Chương 8 - The Betrayal
Preston stared at his Chief Operating Officer with a mixture of shock and sheer outrage.
"Have you lost your mind, Gideon?" Preston yelled, taking a slow step backward.
"I am tired of cleaning up your messes, Preston," Gideon spat, his eyes wide with desperate adrenaline.
"The SEC is already investigating us, and your partnership with Tariq is going to send us all to federal prison."
Gideon looked quickly down at Meline, who was still kneeling on the concrete.
"Take the drive, Meline, and use it to destroy him," Gideon ordered, gesturing toward Preston’s pocket.
Preston laughed dryly, shaking his head in absolute disbelief.
"You think you can take my company from me, Gideon? You are nothing without me."
While Preston was distracted by the betrayal, Meline sprang upward with lethal precision.
She swept Preston’s legs out from under him, sending the billionaire crashing hard onto the concrete floor.
She reached into his suit pocket, snatched the flash drive, and rolled safely behind the heavy frame of the armored SUV.
The second guard finally recovered from his shock and drew his weapon, aiming it at Gideon.
A chaotic shootout erupted in the confined, echoing space of the parking garage.
Meline used the distraction to sprint toward the garage exit ramp, clutching the drive tightly in her hand.
"Stop her!" Preston roared from the floor, scrambling to find cover behind a concrete pillar.
Meline ran faster than she ever had, her lungs burning as she breached the street level and merged into the dense Manhattan crowd.
She did not stop running until she was four blocks away, hiding inside a crowded, noisy coffee shop.
She pulled out her burner phone and dialed David’s number, praying he was still alive.
"David, pick up," she whispered frantically into the receiver.
The line clicked open, but it was not David’s voice on the other end.
"Your friend put up a brave fight, Meline," a heavily accented, terrifyingly familiar voice said.
Meline felt the blood turn to ice in her veins.
It was Tariq Al-Fayed.
"If you want to see your mother alive, you will bring that drive to the abandoned shipping terminal at Pier 40 in one hour," Tariq commanded calmly.
"Do not test me, Tariq," Meline warned, gripping the phone so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Tariq chuckled, a dark and hollow sound that brought back all the nightmares of Beirut.
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"Bring the drive, Meline, or I will finish the job I started three years ago."
The line went dead, leaving Meline alone in the middle of the city with a choice that could destroy the world or save her mother.
