Chapter 5 - The Shadow Ally.
Clara froze completely, holding her breath as she waited for the fatal gunshot to ring out.
A deep, unfamiliar voice calmly instructed her to step away from the floor safe and keep her hands visible.
She slowly turned around and saw a tall man wearing a dark trench coat, holding a suppressed pistol.
He lowered the weapon slightly, introducing himself in a hushed whisper as Marcus, an independent investigator.
Marcus explained that he had been secretly tracking Arthur's sprawling criminal enterprise for over three years.
He revealed that he had broken into the building tonight for the exact same reason Clara had.
They quickly pulled the real, heavily guarded red ledger from the depths of the hidden floor safe.
Suddenly, the building's massive security alarms began blaring, bathing the dark office in flashing red strobe lights.
Arthur's private, heavily armed security team was already storming out of the elevators down the hall.
Marcus grabbed Clara's arm and dragged her toward the emergency maintenance stairwell.
They sprinted down forty flights of concrete stairs, barely escaping the building before the police locked down the perimeter.
Marcus drove them to a secluded safe house located in an abandoned warehouse district on the edge of the city.
They placed the stolen ledger on a dusty table and began frantically flipping through the heavy pages.
The documents perfectly detailed every single illegal transaction, offshore account, and murder ordered by Arthur.
It was the ultimate smoking gun that would easily clear Clara's name and send Arthur to prison forever.
Marcus flipped to the final page to find the master index of all the hidden bank accounts.
He completely froze, his eyes widening in absolute, unfiltered shock.
Clara leaned over his shoulder to see what had frightened the seasoned investigator so badly.
May you like
The primary beneficiary listed for every single stolen dollar was not Arthur.
The name printed in bold ink at the bottom of the master ledger was Marcus himself.
