Chapter 16 - The Mole
Before we could launch an assault on the ironworks, a devastating blow struck us from within our own walls.
It started quietly. Our external security cameras simply flickered and went dark. Then, the electronic locks on the armory doors disengaged automatically. Someone inside the estate was deliberately overriding our secure mainframe, clearing a path for an invisible enemy.
Clara immediately rushed to the secondary server room to isolate the hack. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, tracing the malicious commands back to a terminal inside the medical wing of the mansion.
“Bennett, it’s coming from the infirmary,” Clara shouted over the internal comms.
I drew my weapon and sprinted down the long hallways, motioning for Vance and two guards to flank me. When I kicked open the doors to the infirmary, I found Dr. Aris—the brilliant, neutral syndicate doctor who had saved Clara’s life after the Volkov attack—frantically typing on a secure computer terminal.
He froze when he felt the cold barrel of my gun press against the back of his neck.
“Step away from the console, Doctor,” I commanded, my voice dangerously calm.
Dr. Aris raised his hands, trembling uncontrollably. He was sweating profusely, and his eyes were wide with terror. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hale. I didn't have a choice. He has my family.”
Clara ran into the room and immediately pushed the doctor aside, rapidly typing to sever the connection before he could download our complete financial routing codes to Dominic's servers. She managed to firewall the system just in time, saving our empire from bankruptcy by mere seconds.
“My father blackmailed you,” I stated, keeping my weapon leveled at the doctor.
“His men kidnapped my wife and daughter yesterday,” Dr. Aris sobbed, falling to his knees. “They sent me a live video feed. They said if I didn't shut down your security systems and transfer your funds, they would execute them both.”
I felt a surge of sympathy, but it was quickly overshadowed by cold tactical logic. Because of his actions, our perimeter was compromised.
Suddenly, the glass windows of the infirmary shattered inward as a barrage of suppressed rifle fire tore through the room. Dominic’s strike team had used the disabled cameras to sneak onto the grounds, and they were already in the courtyard.
Vance returned fire, laying down suppressing shots while I dragged the doctor behind an overturned medical cabinet. Clara pulled her pistol and shot one of the black-clad intruders who tried to breach the window, dropping him instantly.
“How many men did you let in?” I yelled over the deafening gunfire.
“A dozen!” Dr. Aris cried out. “An extraction team! They weren't just after the money, Bennett. They came to take something else!”
A terrifying realization washed over me. The hack was a distraction. The firefight at the infirmary was a diversion to draw me and my best security personnel away from the heart of the mansion.
“Where is Marcus?” Clara asked, her eyes widening in panic as she realized the same thing.
I tapped my earpiece aggressively. “Marcus! Report! Where are you?”
Static hissed in my ear before a weak, groaning voice responded. “Boss... they hit the safe room. I tried to stop them. They took the old syndicate ledgers... and they took something else.”
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I sprinted out of the infirmary, leaving Vance to finish off the remaining attackers. When I reached the main office, the heavy vault was blown wide open. Marcus was slumped against the wall, bleeding from a fresh bullet wound in his leg.
But it wasn't the stolen money ledgers that made my heart stop. It was the empty glass case on my desk. Dominic’s men had stolen the original, signed blood-oath document—the legal and historical foundation of our family’s right to rule the syndicate.
