Chapter 13 - The Macau Gambit
Z
Victor Zhang's hand trembled so violently he could barely hold the digital pen. Within two minutes, the biometric transfer signatures were verified by the Singapore Maritime Authority. The rare-earth refineries were officially back under my control, securing Vanguard-Sterling's supply chain for the foreseeable future.
Zhang collapsed back into his leather chair, staring at the empty glass of whiskey like a man who had just watched his own execution stay granted at the final second.
"You think you've won," Zhang muttered, looking up at me with hollow, defeated eyes. "You think taking back the refineries stops Madam Chen? She didn't want the rare-earth metals, Victoria. That was just the excuse to drag you out of your fortress in California."
My eyes narrowed sharply. "What are you talking about?"
"The call she made to you... the demand for the AI code..." Zhang chuckled darkly, wiping a bead of cold sweat from his forehead. "She knew you wouldn't give up the code over the phone. She knew you'd fly to Asia to fight for your assets. She wanted you on this side of the Pacific, away from your US federal protection."
Before I could demand an explanation, Marcus's tactical comms earpiece buzzed with a loud, static-filled distress tone. He pressed two fingers to his ear, his face instantly turning rigid with alarm.
"Ma'am, we have a red alert from our Zurich detail," Marcus blurted out, his voice laced with rare panic. "The safehouse perimeter in Switzerland... it's under heavy armed attack!"
A violent jolt of pure adrenaline crashed through my chest, making my heart slam against my ribs. "The babies! Where are Alexander and Eleanor?!"
"Dr. Reyes and the primary team managed to secure the twins into the underground armored bunker," Marcus reported, reading frantically from his wrist monitor. "But the attackers aren't trying to breach the bunker! They... wait... ma'am, they didn't come for the children!"
"Then what did they come for?!" I screamed, grabbing Marcus's tactical vest.
"They breached the medical research lab next to the safehouse," Marcus said, reading the incoming security feed. "They took the private umbilical cord blood samples... the stem cell reserves stored from your twins' birth!"
The room seemed to tilt around me. My vision blurred as cold horror washed over my entire body.
Stem cell reserves.
The unique, genetic blueprint of the Sterling bloodline—the raw biological data required to unlock the physical biometrics of my father's most advanced, restricted neural weapons patents. The patents that required pure Sterling genetic markers to operate.
Julian Sterling hadn't just tried to pass the legacy to my children; his backers wanted the biological key to bypass my voice authorization entirely.
"Madam Chen..." I breathed, my teeth grinding together in white-hot rage. "She doesn't need me alive to access the weapons. She just needed their DNA."
"Where are they taking the samples?" I demanded, turning to Zhang, stepping around the desk and grabbing him by his lapel, pulling his face inches from mine. "Where is she?!"
Zhang gulped, terror screaming from his eyes. "The Macau floating casino... the Grand Lotus. Her private command center is on the lower deck! She has a mobile genetics laboratory onboard!"
I shoved him back into his chair, turning on my heel toward the elevator.
"Marcus! Get the Gulfstream prepped for Macau immediately!" I barked. "And contact our private maritime security division in the Philippines. Tell them to deploy the Aegis strike vessel."
"Ma'am, Macau is neutral territory controlled by foreign syndicates," Marcus warned, keeping pace with my frantic stride. "If we execute an armed assault on the Grand Lotus, it will cause an international crisis!"
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I stopped at the elevator doors, turning to face him, my eyes burning with a terrifying, demonic fire that made even my battle-hardened security chief step back.
"They stole my children's blood, Marcus," I said, my voice echoing through the quiet hall like a death sentence. "I don't care about international law. I'm going to burn that ship to the bottom of the ocean."
