Chapter 16 - The Digital Counter-Offensive
Within twenty-four hours, our technical team had traced the IP address of Richard Sterling’s off-site quantum server to a heavily encrypted data center located in Zurich, Switzerland.
“The server is completely autonomous,” our chief IT specialist reported through the secure terminal while Vincent and Agent Vance watched closely. “It operates on a dead-man’s switch timer, releasing the dossier piece by piece every six months unless Richard’s biometric signature or cryptographic key is verified locally.”
“Can we hack it and wipe the server clean?” Vincent asked.
“Negative,” the specialist replied. “The firewall utilizes quantum-entangled encryption. Any unauthorized brute-force intrusion will instantly trigger an emergency data dump to global news outlets.”
I studied the cascading lines of code on the screen, tapping my pen rhythmically against the wooden desk.
“We don’t need to hack it,” I said softly.
Agent Vance looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
“Richard wants a deal,” I explained, leaning forward. “He wants me to secure Eleanor’s release. That means he expects me to meet him on neutral ground to exchange the encryption keys.”
“Absolutely not,” Vincent interrupted immediately, his voice dropping into a fierce, protective growl. “That is far too dangerous. You are not walking into a trap set by a Sterling.”
“I won’t be alone,” I smiled, placing my hand over his. “And I’m not going there to negotiate. I’m going there to collect his cryptographic key.”
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“How?” Vance asked.
“By playing his game better than he does,” I replied, standing up and grabbing my blazer. “Richard thinks I’m just a helpful nanny who got lucky. Let’s remind him that I’m the director of an empire.”
