Chapter 5 - The Hacker
The bodyguards threw me violently out of the hospital into the freezing rain.
I sat on the wet pavement, bleeding from my lip and completely stripped of my family.
I knew the local police were too slow to stop a billionaire like Arthur Vance.
I needed to find my mother and sister to force a confession that would clear my name entirely.
I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I had not used in five years.
It was a guy named Marcus, a former warehouse employee who was fired for hacking the company payroll system.
Marcus agreed to meet me at a deserted diner on the edge of town.
I slid into the vinyl booth and handed him a crumpled hundred dollar bill.
"I need you to track the GPS location of my sister's cell phone," I pleaded desperately.
Marcus pulled a heavily modified laptop from his backpack and began typing at lightning speed.
"Your sister is incredibly sloppy with her digital footprint," Marcus laughed softly.
Ten minutes later, he turned the laptop screen toward me.
A blinking red dot showed Ashley's exact location at a cheap motel just across the county line.
I thanked Marcus and sprinted back to my car.
I drove through the stormy night until I saw the flickering neon sign of the Starlight Motel.
I found room number twelve and kicked the flimsy wooden door completely off its hinges.
The room was completely trashed, with overturned chairs and shattered glass covering the carpet.
Ashley was curled up in the corner of the room, sobbing uncontrollably.
Her face was heavily bruised, and she was clutching her ribs in absolute agony.
I rushed over to her, my anger instantly replaced by shock.
"What happened to you?" I asked, kneeling beside her shaking body.
Ashley looked up at me with terrified, tear-filled eyes.
"Arthur's men came to tie up loose ends, Ethan," she cried.
She told me they had taken our mother to a secondary location to execute her.
Ashley reached into her bloody pocket and pulled out a small black USB drive.
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"This drive contains all the recorded phone calls between Mom and Arthur discussing the poisoning," she whispered.
Before I could take the drive, a laser sight suddenly appeared squarely on Ashley's chest.
