Chapter 3 - The Canvas Bag
Claire tightly covered her mouth to muffle a completely terrified scream.
The dark blood on the floor was still very wet, meaning the ruthless intruders had just left minutes ago.
"Marcus, lock down the entire city perimeter right now," Adrian ordered intensely into his radio.
He pulled Claire tightly against his broad chest, fiercely shielding her from the horrifying sight.
"Someone was looking for something highly specific, and they were desperately willing to kill for it," Adrian whispered.
Claire tried to steady her rapid, shallow breathing as she looked at the totally shredded furniture.
"I do not have anything valuable, Jeremy took absolutely everything when he left," she sobbed into his expensive suit.
Adrian guided her carefully out of the ruined building and directly into his armored SUV.
They drove in complete, tense silence to his heavily guarded penthouse in the wealthy city center.
The luxury penthouse was a virtual fortress of steel and glass, surrounded constantly by armed security personnel.
Once safely inside, Adrian gently handed her a glass of water and told her to sit on the comfortable couch.
"Jeremy did not just steal money from the Petrovs," Adrian explained gravely, pacing the large room.
"My trusted informants tell me he also stole a highly encrypted digital ledger belonging to my syndicate."
Claire felt a profoundly cold shiver run violently down her spine.
"Why would he do something so incredibly stupid and dangerous?" she asked in total disbelief.
"He desperately wanted to sell my deepest secrets to the Petrovs to buy his way out of the criminal underworld," Adrian said.
Claire suddenly remembered the cheap canvas bag she always carried faithfully to work every single day.
Jeremy had bought it for her as a rare gift just two days before he mysteriously vanished.
She frantically unzipped the heavy bag and felt carefully along the thick bottom lining.
Her shaking fingers brushed against a small, hard rectangular shape hidden deeply inside the fabric.
She borrowed a sharp pocket knife from Marcus and carefully sliced the fabric lining entirely open.
A sleek black flash drive fell directly onto the expensive glass coffee table.
Adrian stared at the digital drive, his strong jaw tightening with absolute, uncontrollable fury.
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"He maliciously used you as a blind courier to smuggle the stolen ledger directly out of my own building," Adrian growled.
Suddenly, the massive penthouse windows shattered violently inward as a heavy sniper bullet tore directly through the room.
