Chapter 7 - THE UNRAVELING"I don't need to try you," Victoria said, her eyes flashing with sudden triumph.
She pulled a small, black detonator switch from her bag.
"Do you really think I didn't have a backup plan if the plane was grounded?" she sneered. "This switch is connected to thermite charges planted in the main server vaults at Bennett Meridian, as well as the family estate. In ten seconds, every piece of evidence, every paper trail, every server backup that links me to these transactions will turn to ash—along with the federal agents currently raiding my house."
"Drop it!" Daniel shouted, stepping onto the jet cabin floor behind me, his rifle trained on her.
"Shoot me, Daniel, and my thumb relaxes off the dead-man switch. The charge detonates instantly," Victoria mocked, her eyes locked on mine. "So, Captain Bennett... what's it going to be? Do you let me walk onto a new plane, or do you let your father's legacy and those federal agents burn to the ground?"
I stood there, staring at the woman who had brought me into the world, who had watched me bleed, who had tried to bury me twice.
Then, slowly... I lowered my gun.
Victoria’s mouth curved into a victorious smile. "Good girl. I knew you were always the obedient one at heart."
"You're right, Mother," I said, my voice dead calm. "I am obedient. To my oath."
I reached into my collar and pulled out a small, lapel-mounted tactical communications microphone connected to a wire running down my sleeve.
"Did you get all of that, General?" I asked aloud.
A voice crackled through the jet's intercom system—booming, clear, and loud enough to shake the cabin windows.
"We copy loud and clear, Captain Bennett. Confirmed full confession of treason, conspiracy to commit murder, murder of federal contractors, and act of domestic terrorism."
Victoria’s smile vanished instantly. "What... what is this?"
"The plane wasn't skidding to a stop because we were trying to keep you from taking off, Mother," I said, taking a step closer to her. "We were keeping you on the tarmac long enough for the Signal Corps to jam all local radio frequencies within a five-mile radius."
She looked down at the black detonator in her hand. The little red indicator light was flashing frantically—blinking yellow, then going completely dark.
Zero signal.
"No..." Victoria gasped, her thumb pressing the button violently over and over again. Nothing happened. "No! No! It’s a trick!"
"The charges at the house were disarmed twenty minutes ago," Daniel said, stepping forward with handcuffs. "And the servers at Meridian aren't burning. They're being uploaded directly to the Department of Justice mainframe right now."
Victoria backed away, her aristocratic composure collapsing into hysterical panic. She hit the side window, her eyes darting frantically looking for an exit that didn't exist.
"You can't do this to me! I am Victoria Bennett! I built this empire!" she screamed as Daniel grabbed her wrist, twisting it behind her back and snapping the steel cuffs over her wrists. "Mara! Tell them! Tell them to stop!"
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I looked at her—really looked at her—for the last time.
"You spent twenty-eight years trying to erase my life, Mother," I said, picking up her fallen handbag and retrieving the drive. "Now... society is going to erase yours."
