Chapter 17 - The melody of survival
I sprinted out of the penitentiary doors, bursting into the cold morning air. I threw open the passenger door of the rusted sedan, completely out of breath. "Lila, the music box Arthur gave you the day you met him. Do you still have it?" I asked frantically. Lila blinked sleepily, rubbing her exhausted eyes. "Yes, I packed it in my backpack before we ran. I thought it was pretty," she mumbled, unzipping her canvas bag. She pulled out a small, intricately carved wooden box, completely different from the 'cheap plastic' description Eleanor had mockingly used. I carefully opened the small brass latch, and a delicate, haunting melody began to play into the quiet car. Julian turned around from the driver's seat, his eyes widening in pure shock. "That is a Russian lullaby," Julian whispered. "It is the song our mother used to sing to us before Victor murdered her."
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the car. Arthur had meticulously planned this entire endgame years in advance, leaving the literal key to destroying Victor in the innocent hands of his own granddaughter. Julian pulled out the encrypted tablet and brought up the password prompt for the master ledger. "We need to input the musical notes in complete reverse," Julian instructed. Lila, who had absolute perfect pitch from years of middle school choir, listened to the melody twice before calling out the corresponding letters. "E, C, A, F, D, B," Lila recited confidently. Julian rapidly typed the letters into the digital keypad. The screen flashed bright green, and thousands of highly classified documents, offshore banking records, and political blackmail files suddenly flooded the screen. "We have it," Julian said, a fierce, triumphant grin breaking across his bruised face. "This ledger proves Victor is responsible for federal treason, international terrorism, and human trafficking. The FBI will have enough evidence to hunt him to the ends of the earth." But just as Julian reached to forward the files to his federal contacts, a massive armored truck deliberately T-boned our small sedan at an intersection, sending us spinning violently out of control.
