Chapter 24 - Siege at the Alps
Forty-eight hours later, a private estate perched high in the Swiss Alps was enveloped in a heavy blizzard. Inside the grand glass dome of the chateau, twelve of the most powerful crime lords in the world sat around a circular steel table.
At the center stood a high-tech biometric scanner linked to a massive ledger screen displaying the locked ten-billion-dollar Syndicate reserve.
Victor Vance stood at the head of the table. Beside him stood Dominic and me, guarded by twenty heavily armed enforcers. Noah and Tyler were safely secured in an armored safehouse five miles away under the protection of Prosecutor Miller’s federal agents—an secret alliance Dominic had arranged before we left Italy.
“Gentlemen,” Vance addressed the Board, his voice echoing under the glass dome. “The daughter of David Reed stands before you. Within five minutes, the master key will be retrieved, and our global liquidity will be restored.”
“And what about Dominic Vale?” a Russian board member growled. “He destroyed our Chicago operations!”
“Dominic Vale is acting as my personal security chief,” Vance declared. “He has proven his loyalty by bringing the key to us.”
Vance turned to me, extending a hand toward the biometric scanner. “Place your hand on the glass, Clara. Let us extract the sequence.”
I stepped up to the terminal. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped drum. I looked at Dominic. He gave me a single, imperceptible nod.
I pressed my hand against the glowing glass screen.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A green light flashed across the console. The screen flared to life, reading: BIOMETRIC DNA SEQUENCE CONFIRMED. ACCESS GRANTED.
“Finally!” Vance laughed, his eyes gleaming with insatiable greed as the numbers on the screen began to unlock. “Ten billion dollars!”
“You forgot to read the fine print, Vance,” I said softly.
Vance froze. “What?”
On the giant screen, the ten billion dollar balance suddenly began rapidly dropping to zero!
SYSTEM OVERRIDE: EXECUTIVE LIQUIDATION INITIATED. ALL FUNDS TRANSFERRED TO INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS, UNICEF, AND GLOBAL CARDIAC RESEARCH FOUNDATIONS.
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“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Vance shrieked, lunging toward the console.
“My father didn’t build a vault to save your money, Vance,” I spat, staring into his panicked eyes. “He built a time bomb. The moment my DNA unlocked the ledger, it triggered an automatic self-destruct redistribution protocol!”
