Chapter 7 - THE UNTOUCHABLE MASTERMINDThe ground buckled. A massive plume of black smoke and fire erupted from the center of the estate as the underground vault collapsed in on itself, taking the main house down with it in a roaring inferno of dust and flame.
Federal sirens wailed in the distance. FBI tactical teams swept the perimeter, securing the area.
Agent Chen ran toward us, her face covered in soot, gun drawn. “Colonel! Vivienne! You made it out!”
“Who gave the order, Chen?” my father demanded, wiping blood and ash from his forehead. “Who was on that loudspeaker?”
Chen pulled out a tablet, showing a surveillance photo taken from a traffic camera two miles away during the explosion.
A sleek black sedan was pulling away from the estate. Sitting in the back seat, clearly visible through the tinted window, was a man in a pristine military dress uniform with four stars on his shoulder.
My father’s breath hitched. “General Marcus Vance.”
Julian’s father. The Chairman of the Military Logistics Committee. The man everyone thought was a decorated war hero and retired elder statesman.
“He was the head of Apex all along,” Chen said grimly. “Julian wasn't just working for a syndicate—he was working for his own father. General Vance sacrificed his own son, his operative Eleanor, and this entire facility the moment he realized the investigation was tracing back to him.”
“Where is he now?” I asked, holding my stomach as the paramedics rushed toward us with gurneys.
“He’s heading to the private military airfield in Andrews,” Chen reported. “He has diplomatic immunity credentials and a private jet waiting. Once he enters international airspace, we can’t touch him.”
My father looked at me, then at the burning remains of my mother’s house.
“He thinks he’s untouchable,” my father said quietly. “He thinks because he wears four stars, he can destroy my family and walk away.”
“Dad, what are you going to do?” I asked, fear mixing with adrenaline.
My father reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, metallic silver thumb drive—one he had quietly pulled from the master console inside the vault right before we climbed into the vent.
“Julian thought he had the only copy of the Apex ledger,” Dad smiled darkly. “He was wrong. General Vance’s entire empire—every corrupt official, every foreign bank account, every treasonous contract—is right here. And I’m not giving it to the prosecutors.”
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“What are you going to do with it?” Agent Chen asked, stunned.
“I’m going to broadcast it,” my father declared. “To every news station, every military tribunal, and every defense network in the world.”
