Chapter 15 - The Counter-StrikeDaniel didn't hesitate for a single microsecond. He sprinted up the stairs, sweeping Evelyn into his arms and pulling her back into the master study.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Daniel checked her over frantically, his hands trembling.

"I'm fine, Daniel, I'm fine!" Evelyn grabbed his face, her eyes fierce. "Listen to me! Julian is arrogant, but he’s meticulous. He talked about a blind trust in the Cayman Islands—that means he hasn't liquidated the physical holdings yet. Everything is still sitting in the primary vault server at the old downtown headquarters!"

Daniel stared at her, the gears in his mind clicking into place with terrifying speed. "The downtown mainframe... It’s not connected to the cloud network. It’s an air-gapped system!"

"Exactly," Evelyn nodded rapidly. "If he wants to execute the logic bomb, he has to manually authenticate it from the main terminal downtown within the hour, or the system auto-locks and triggers an automatic asset reversion back to the parent company!"

Daniel grabbed his encrypted satellite phone off the mahogany desk. He dialed a direct, high-priority emergency frequency.

"Director Miller," Daniel spoke into the phone the instant the line connected, his voice cold, hard, and absolute. "This is Daniel Vance. I need an immediate tactical lockdown of the downtown Vanguard headquarters. Federal jurisdiction. Code Black."

"Mr. Vance," a gravelly voice responded on the other end. "We've been monitoring Julian Vance’s offshore communications. We've been waiting for him to make a move. What’s your position?"

"He’s heading there right now," Daniel replied, pulling a heavy-duty Smith & Wesson firearm out of his hidden wall safe and checking the chamber. "And so am I."

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Evelyn grabbed his arm, her face pale with terror. "Daniel, no! It’s a trap! Let the federal agents handle it!"

Daniel looked down into her eyes, pressing a fierce, tender kiss to her lips. "He took five years of your life, Evelyn. He tried to destroy our family. This ends tonight."