Chapter 13
Z
Tires screeched as Ethan maneuvered our truck through afternoon traffic, keeping sight of Julian’s black sedan as it wove recklessly through the downtown streets.
"Why would he want us away from the house?" I asked frantically, my hands typing rapidly on the laptop resting on my lap to maintain the network trace. "There’s nothing left there! The evidence was uploaded to the federal server!"
"The physical server at your mother's house was destroyed," Ethan reasoned, overtaking a delivery van with sharp military precision. "But what about your study? What about the original hard drives?"
My blood ran cold. "The original hard drives in my study hold the master encryption keys to my father's offshore accounts. If Julian gets those keys, he doesn't need to scrub the accounts—he can transfer all fifty million dollars to an un-traceable crypto wallet and vanish forever!"
"He sent a crew to your house while he lured us downtown," Ethan realized, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel.
He slammed his foot on the accelerator, cutting across three lanes of traffic and turning back toward our neighborhood. "Major Miller!" Ethan barked into his Bluetooth headset. "We have an active breach at my primary residence! Deploy perimeter lockdown!"
"Vance, I'm ten minutes out!" Major Miller’s voice crackled through the speakers over the sound of heavy engines. "My team was monitoring the federal transport! Hold your position until we arrive!"
"We don't have ten minutes!" Ethan shouted back, hanging up the call.
We tore up our residential street five minutes later. The front door of our house was kicked wide open, the wooden frame splintered onto the porch.
Ethan drew his pistol, throwing his door open before the truck had even fully stopped. "Stay behind me, Claire!"
We stepped into the foyer. The house was trashed—drawers pulled out, paintings ripped off the walls, glass shattered everywhere. Upstairs in my study, the loud sound of power tools echoed through the ceiling. They were drilling directly into my floor safe.
Ethan moved up the stairs like a ghost, weapon raised, every muscle in his body coiled to strike. I followed two steps behind, holding a heavy tactical flashlight.
Ethan kicked open the study door.
Two men in dark tactical gear turned, handguns raised. Ethan fired twice—two lightning-fast shots that took both men down instantly.
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Standing in front of my opened floor safe, holding the black master hard drive in his hand, was Julian Vance.
He didn't panic. He held up a small, sleek cylinder with a flashing red light. "Step back, Captain. Or I drop this thermite grenade directly onto your precious hard drive."
