Chapter 5 - The Trap Closes
The sound of boots crunching loudly across the gravel outside made every muscle in my body tense.
“Get back!” Arthur hissed, instantly abandoning his calm demeanor as he lunged toward the workbench, yanking open a heavy metal drawer and pulling out a sleek, black laptop. “They found us.”
“Who found us?” I demanded, rushing to the front window to peer through the grime at the street outside.
Two sleek, black SUVs had blocked the entrance to the industrial park, their high-beam headlights cutting blinding shafts of light through the dirty glass. Men in dark suits and tactical gear were pouring out of the vehicles, moving with military precision toward the steel door of the warehouse.
Sarah gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth.
“It’s the board,” Sarah whispered, terror flooding her features. “Your father’s former associates. They must have tracked the encrypted IP addresses from the Chicago acquisition files.”
“They didn't just track the files,” I realized with sudden, chilling clarity. “When I cancelled my flight this morning, the corporate security team flagged my account. They’ve been monitoring my communications for months, waiting for me to lead them to Arthur.”
The heavy steel door shuddered under a massive blow from a battering ram, the rusted hinges groaning as dust rained down from the ceiling.
“We have about thirty seconds before they breach,” Arthur said, slamming the laptop shut and tossing it to me. “Take that drive. It contains every encrypted backup of the original patents, the financial ledgers, and the proof of your father’s corporate embezzlement. It’s the only leverage we have left.”
“Why are you giving this to me?” I asked, staring at the laptop in my hands. “Ten minutes ago, you said I was part of the problem.”
“Because if they take me, I disappear permanently, and you go down with me as an accomplice to corporate fraud,” Arthur said, his eyes locking onto mine with fierce urgency. “There’s a service exit behind the back storage room that leads to the old railway tracks. Take Sarah and Lily out through there. Run.”
“I’m not running anymore,” I said, my jaw tightening as I set the laptop down on the workbench and picked up the heavy wrench Arthur had discarded earlier. “We finish this right here, right now.”
The second blow against the door cracked the wooden frame, sending splinters flying across the concrete floor as the metal latch gave way.
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The heavy door swung violently inward, revealing the dark, imposing silhouette of a man standing in the doorway—a man I recognized instantly as Richard Vance, my father’s former chief legal counsel and current chairman of the holding company.
“Well, well, well,” Richard’s smooth, icy voice cut through the cavernous space as he stepped inside, flanked by three armed security guards. “A family reunion. How touching.”
