Chapter 6 - The Federal Frame-Up
The taller federal agent approached my hospital bed and read me my legal rights.
He held up a thick manila folder labeled with the official seal of the Department of Justice.
The agent stated that Julian Vance had provided them with undeniable proof of my financial crimes.
Julian had apparently submitted a massive cache of forged documents to the federal authorities.
The documents claimed that I was the mastermind behind the missing funds at Core Dynamics.
Julian had painted himself as the innocent whistleblower who had discovered his evil wife’s corruption.
Arthur Thorne had corroborated Julian’s story, giving the federal agents all the executive testimony they needed.
I stared at the handcuffs dangling from the agent’s belt and felt a surge of raw adrenaline.
My broken leg throbbed painfully, reminding me that I was physically trapped in this room.
Chloe immediately stepped between me and the agents, demanding to see an official arrest warrant.
The agent coldly pushed past her and ordered me to surrender my encrypted laptop.
I knew that if they confiscated my computer, Arthur would completely erase my digital existence.
I firmly placed my hand flat against the laptop screen and looked the agent in the eye.
I informed him that taking a protected device without a cyber-warrant violated federal protocol.
The agent hesitated for a fraction of a second, which was all the time I needed.
I pressed a hidden sequence of keys on the side of the keyboard to activate the self-destruct wipe.
The screen flashed brilliantly white before going completely black as the hard drive melted itself.
The federal agent cursed loudly and reached for my wrist to forcibly restrain me.
Suddenly, the door swung open again, and Attorney Sophia Sterling marched into the room.
Sophia was wearing a sharp designer suit and carrying a briefcase full of devastating legal power.
She aggressively slammed a federal injunction down on the tray table in front of the agents.
Sophia informed them that a federal judge had just blocked the arrest warrant due to tainted evidence.
She explained that we possessed time-stamped video footage of Julian creating the forged documents.
The agents looked at the paperwork, realized their case was crumbling, and quietly backed out of the room.
Sophia let out a deep breath and sat heavily in the chair next to my bed.
She warned me that Julian and Arthur were becoming incredibly desperate and dangerous.
They were willing to weaponize the entire justice system to keep me locked away from my company.
I thanked Sophia for the timely rescue, but my mind was already calculating my next offensive move.
I needed a new laptop, a secure internet connection, and absolute privacy to launch my counterattack.
Chloe helped me transition from the hospital bed into a specialized medical wheelchair.
We snuck out of the hospital through the basement service elevator to avoid the waiting press.
A sleek black armored vehicle was waiting for us in the loading dock alleyway.
I climbed into the back seat and prepared to disappear into the shadows of Chicago.
As the car sped away, my burner phone buzzed with an anonymous text message.
May you like
The message contained a single photograph of the distracted driver who had hit me with his car.
The driver was sitting at a bar, shaking hands and sharing a drink with Julian.
