Chapter 2 - The Digital Bloodhound
I stared at the blinking red light on Singh's digital scanner.
The Hawthornes were arrogant, but I never expected them to launch a direct assault on a fortified tactical base.
"Kill the signal immediately and wipe the device's battery," I ordered Singh.
Singh shook his head frantically, his fingers flying across his modified tablet.
"The tracking malware is deeply embedded in the phone's hard drive."
"If I kill the battery, it triggers an automatic data wipe of her entire camera roll."
"That means we lose the video evidence of the assault entirely," Singh warned.
I cursed under my breath and grabbed my tactical radio.
"Tessa, take squad alpha and fortify the main gate with heavy barricades."
"Do not engage with lethal force unless fired upon, but nobody gets past that fence."
I sprinted back into the infirmary where Lily was resting under a heavy thermal blanket.
The medic was carefully bandaging her ribs, his face grim with professional concern.
"How much time do we have before they arrive?" Lily asked, her voice shaking.
"They are not getting inside this compound, sweetheart," I promised her.
I pulled out my secure laptop and connected it to Singh's network.
"Singh, bounce the GPS signal to a proxy server in Eastern Europe," I commanded.
"Make them think the tracker is glitching across the globe."
Singh typed furiously for thirty seconds before letting out a loud sigh of relief.
"The signal is successfully rerouted, sir."
"The convoy just slammed on their brakes on the highway, completely confused by the fake coordinates."
I looked at the live satellite feed showing five black SUVs idling on the dark road just a mile away.
"Now extract the video file from her cloud drive," I instructed.
Singh bypassed the security firewalls and pulled up the hidden video folder.
The footage began to play on the large monitor in the corner of the infirmary.
It was shaky, recorded from a phone held by Marissa's new stepson, Bradley.
The screen showed Lily backed into a corner of the Hawthorne's massive living room.
All eleven members of the family were surrounding her like a pack of wolves.
Arthur Hawthorne, the wealthy patriarch, stepped forward and slapped Lily viciously across the face.
My fists clenched so hard that my knuckles instantly turned white.
I watched Marissa stand in the background, sipping a glass of wine and doing absolutely nothing to stop it.
"Where is the flash drive, you little thief?" Arthur screamed at Lily in the video.
Lily spat blood onto the expensive Persian rug and refused to answer him.
The video abruptly cut to black as someone dropped the recording phone.
I turned away from the screen, my heart pounding with a dangerous, icy rage.
"Lily, what exactly did you take from that house?" I asked gently.
Lily reached into the lining of her torn jacket and pulled out a small, silver USB drive.
"I found it in Mom's desk when I went to pack my remaining clothes," she whispered.
"It has all the offshore bank accounts Arthur uses to bribe federal judges and state senators."
I took the drive from her trembling hands, realizing the stakes had just multiplied tenfold.
This was no longer just a domestic assault case.
This was massive political corruption and international money laundering.
My radio suddenly buzzed with Tessa's urgent voice.
"Boss, you need to get out to the front gate right now."
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"The convoy didn't turn around and go home."
"They just drove straight up to our barricades, and they brought the local sheriff with them."
