Chapter 14 - The Final Confession
The color drained entirely from Vance’s face. He lunged forward toward the master console, desperately trying to hit the manual override switch for his satellite uplink.
Marcus crossed the room in two strides, grabbing Vance by the collar of his suit jacket and slamming him hard against the control panels.
"Don't even think about it," Marcus snarled, pressing the muzzle of his sidearm against the back of Vance’s neck.
Vance gasped, his breath hitching as he stared up at the wall of monitors, where every single one of his global servers was suddenly flashing a bright, inescapable red warning: SYSTEM COMPROMISED. ASSETS SEIZED.
"How?" Vance choked out, his voice trembling with sheer disbelief. "How did you bypass the Swiss encryption layers?"
"My father didn't just build a technology empire, Julian," I said, stepping right up to him and lowering my weapon just enough to look him directly in the eyes. "He built the architecture that protects every major banking node in Europe. He gave me the master keys before he died. You were playing checkers in a system I coded myself."
Vance let out a hollow, broken laugh, his head dropping against the cold metal console. He was completely, utterly defeated.
"Interpol tactical teams are securing the perimeter," Marcus reported into his comms unit. "The bunker is locked down. All mercenaries have surrendered."
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"Good," I said, turning away from Vance as federal Swiss authorities flooded into the control room, zip-tying his hands behind his back. "Let's take him home. The U.S. federal courts have a very special cell waiting for him right next to Richard."
As Vance was dragged away, cursing and screaming into the cold Alpine air, I looked out the reinforced observation window toward the jagged peaks of the mountains. The storm was finally clearing, revealing a sky full of brilliant, unyielding stars.
