Chapter 4 - The Digital Trail
The air in the safe house suddenly felt suffocating.
My mother had married a ghost who was considered one of the most dangerous men in the world.
I opened my laptop and began decrypting the files I had managed to steal before the breach.
If Viktor wanted us dead, I needed to understand exactly what kind of empire he was protecting.
The ledgers revealed a massive network of shell companies funneling weapons into Eastern Europe.
I realized I held the digital keys to destroy his entire financial foundation.
Using my old federal access codes, I initiated a series of aggressive cyber protocols.
Within ten minutes, I had successfully frozen over forty million dollars in his offshore accounts.
I wanted to cripple him so severely that he would be forced to focus on the money instead of us.
My mother brought me a cup of black coffee, her hands finally steady.
She looked at the screen and asked if we were finally safe from his wrath.
Before I could answer her, the encrypted satellite phone buzzed violently on the wooden table.
I answered it, expecting to hear Ethan's reassuring voice on the line.
May you like
Instead, a robotic, synthesized voice read my exact GPS coordinates aloud.
And then, a countdown timer appeared on my laptop screen, starting at exactly three minutes.
