Chapter 5 - The Infiltration
I stood completely alone in the silent hallway, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as I watched my only ally get abducted.
The cartel assassin had taken Victoria, leaving me with a ticking clock and absolutely zero room for error.
I needed to transfer five million dollars of Arthur's embezzled money to the cartel without alerting the police who were actively hunting me.
To bypass the strict federal fraud holds, I needed the physical encryption key that Arthur carried on his personal laptop.
I knew Arthur would never return to our house while it was still swarming with crime scene investigators.
The only place he could safely hide was the new beauty salon he had illegally purchased for his fake sister, Elena.
I drove my rental car to the industrial district where the massive, newly renovated salon building was located.
The building was entirely dark, but a sleek black luxury vehicle was parked discreetly behind the delivery dumpster.
I picked the cheap lock on the back delivery door, slipping silently into the dark, heavily perfumed storage room.
I crept through the shadows of the salon, gripping a heavy metal flashlight like a weapon in my trembling hands.
I could hear hushed, frantic voices coming from the lavish manager's office at the front of the building.
I peeked around the corner and saw Arthur desperately typing on his silver laptop while Elena paced nervously behind him.
He was trying to manually override the bank freezes to access the stolen money before the cartel completely lost their patience.
I knew I had to steal that laptop to save Victoria, clear my name, and survive this living nightmare.
I grabbed a heavy bottle of expensive hair developer from a nearby shelf and hurled it fiercely against the front glass window.
The glass shattered with a deafening crash, setting off the building's loud, blaring security alarm.
Elena screamed in pure terror, and Arthur instinctively dropped the laptop on the desk to draw a hidden handgun.
I sprinted into the office, grabbing the silver laptop off the desk before Arthur could even realize what was happening.
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I turned to run out the back door, fully believing I had successfully pulled off the desperate heist.
Before I could take three steps, a heavy, blunt object slammed viciously into the back of my head, sending me crashing into absolute darkness.
