Chapter 9 - The Impossible Trade
Roman stared at Josephine in absolute, utter shock as she stood boldly in the rain.
"What are you doing?" Roman hissed quietly under his breath.
"I am saving your life, so shut up and play along," Josephine whispered back without moving her lips.
Julian leaned dangerously over the edge of the rocky cliff, staring intently at the curvy nanny.
"You are absolutely lying," Julian yelled, though his voice betrayed deep, lingering doubt.
"The legendary ghost who stole that drive died in a car fire in Mexico."
Josephine reached slowly into her wet sweater and pulled out a small, silver flash drive.
"I faked the fire to get off the cartel's radar, but I kept my insurance policy," she announced.
Julian's greedy eyes instantly locked onto the tiny silver device gleaming in the moonlight.
Without the drive, the Russian syndicate would eventually assassinate Julian for his failure.
"Bring the drive up here right now, and I will let the old woman go," Julian bargained.
Josephine began walking slowly up the treacherous, muddy path toward the armed men.
Roman watched her go, his heart pounding violently against his bruised ribs.
She was sacrificing her own life to save a family she had only known for a month.
As Josephine reached the top of the cliff, Julian eagerly snatched the drive from her hand.
He forcefully shoved Roman's mother forward, sending the older woman tumbling down the muddy path.
Roman ran forward and caught his mother, shielding her frail body from the heavy rain.
Julian immediately plugged the silver flash drive into a waterproof tactical tablet.
The glowing screen brightly lit up his cruel, handsome face in the darkness.
Julian opened the main folder, fully expecting to see billions of dollars in stolen funds.
Instead, a bright red countdown timer appeared on the screen, rapidly ticking down from three seconds.
"What is this?" Julian panicked, desperately trying to pull the drive out.
"It is a highly concentrated digital virus that just wiped your entire banking network," Josephine smiled.
Before Julian could even react, the encrypted drive violently short-circuited and exploded.
The small blast shattered the tablet and completely blinded Julian with bright white sparks.
Josephine instantly dropped to the muddy ground and swept the legs of the closest guard.
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Roman drew his hidden backup pistol and fired rapidly up the cliff at the confused mercenaries.
The final, desperate battle for the DeLuca family empire had officially begun.
