Chapter 15 - The Digital Checkmate
"I'm the person who wrote the encryption script you're trying to exploit," I replied, taking a steady step forward.
Julian’s eyes narrowed. "You're Natalie Bennett."
"The very same," I said, pulling a encrypted diagnostic tablet from my coat pocket. "You thought Harold Sterling was your smartest operative? He was an amateur who didn't know the difference between a ledger entry and a cryptographic hash. Three days ago, when you tried to access the Meridian Group’s main server from this warehouse, your IP address triggered a secondary trapdoor I embedded in the state banking registry."
Julian's hand hovered over the enter key of his laptop, panic flickering behind his calculating eyes. "You're bluffing."
"Am I?" I tapped my screen twice.
Instantly, the massive overhead lights of the warehouse flickered and died, plunging the facility into absolute darkness save for the harsh red emergency strobes. A loud, automated mechanical whine echoed through the ceiling rails as the massive steel security doors at both ends of the warehouse slammed shut and locked automatically.
"Your offshore accounts have just been frozen by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission," I said smoothly into the dark. "And your hardware has been remotely wiped. You're holding a very expensive paperweight, Julian."
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With a roar of fury, Julian lunged for the laptop, but the mercenaries beside him hesitated just long enough for the RCMP tactical team to breach the side loading bay, flashbangs exploding with blinding white light and deafening thunder.
Before Julian could reach his weapon, Marcus tackled his older brother to the concrete floor, pinning his arms behind his back as the heavy steel handcuffs snapped shut with a definitive click.
