Chapter 6 - The RansomWithin twenty minutes, the police station was locked down. Federal agents were everywhere. My father was taken to the hospital under armed guard, raving hysterically about "shadow men" taking his wife and daughter.
I was sitting in a secure briefing room, guarded by two heavy-set federal officers, when my phone—which had been placed in a clear plastic evidence bag on the table—began to vibrate.
An unknown number appeared on the screen.
Agent Vance, the lead FBI operative on the scene, immediately motioned for me not to touch it while his tech team hooked up a tracing device to the table.
"Answer it on speaker," Vance ordered coldly. "Keep them talking."
With shaking hands, I tapped the screen through the plastic bag and pressed speaker.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Maya Lin," a voice rasped. It was distorted by a voice-changer, metallic and lifeless. "Your family is very noisy. Your sister has been screaming for thirty minutes. It is giving my men a headache."
"Where are they?" I demanded, anger suddenly overriding my fear. "Why did you take them? They don't have whatever was in that house! They’re just idiots who wanted to smash my old living room!"
A cold, dry laugh echoed through the speaker. "We know they are idiots. But they cost us $2.5 million in bearer bonds that were stashed in the ceiling cavity of that craftsman home—bonds that vanished when the police rushed in because of their little circus."
"Then go after the police! Go after the man in the hoodie who took the bag!" I pleaded.
"We will," the voice replied calmly. "But in the meantime, your sister made us an interesting offer to save her own skin. She told us that you are a brilliant software developer. She told us you built the automated security architecture for the regional bank in your district."
I froze. My stomach plummeted into a bottomless pit.
Clara. Even with a gun to her head, she was still sacrificing me to save herself.
"She offered your services," the voice continued. "You have twelve hours to bypass the bank's encryption and transfer $2.5 million to our offshore account. If you do, your mother and sister live. If you refuse, or if the FBI attempts to trace this signal... we will send you their fingers one by one."
May you like
Click.
The line went dead.
