Chapter 15 - The Judas Trap
I returned to the underground safehouse with a heart full of venom. Ernesto and Sofia listened quietly as I revealed David Thorne's absolute treachery. Thorne had intimate access to our financial reserves, our physical security layouts, and our family's personal schedules. He was the perfect weapon.
"We cannot just fire him or hand him over to the authorities," Ernesto stated, his eyes narrowing with lethal calculation. "The Vanguard will simply activate another sleeper agent. We need to use Thorne to find their physical base of operations."
Sofia cracked her knuckles, a fierce, determined fire burning in her dark eyes. "We feed him poisoned data. We set a trap so irresistible that the Vanguard is forced to deploy their heavy hitters."
We spent the next four hours fabricating a highly classified, heavily encrypted corporate ledger. We filled it with fake account numbers, dummy routing protocols, and a GPS tracker embedded deeply within the digital file.
I called David Thorne directly from a secure line, projecting an aura of desperate, panicked leadership.
"David, the cyber-attacks are wiping out our primary servers," I told him, faking a slight tremble in my voice. "I am moving our absolute core reserve assets—five billion dollars in untraceable bearer bonds—to an offline, physical server tonight. I need you to oversee the transfer."
"Of course, Mr. Alvarez," David replied smoothly, playing the role of the dutiful, concerned executive perfectly. "Where is the physical server located?"
"Warehouse 42, down by the old naval shipyards," I said. "Meet me there at midnight. Do not tell anyone else."
"You can count on me, Julian. The Alvarez empire will survive this," the traitor promised.
May you like
Sofia disconnected the call and smiled viciously. Warehouse 42 was an abandoned property we had quietly purchased through a shell company years ago. It was a massive, empty concrete tomb located miles away from the city's police patrols.
We loaded the trunks of two heavily armored SUVs with tactical gear, assault rifles, and enough ammunition to fight a small war. We were not calling the FBI this time. The Vanguard operated outside the law, and to defeat them, the Alvarez family would have to step into the absolute dark.
