🔥 CHAPTER 5: "THE HUNTERS BECOME THE HUNTED"
The room fell into another uneasy silence.
Daniel noticed the color drain from Sofia's face as she stared at the message on her phone.
"What is it?"
She slowly locked the screen.
"We don't have much time."
Daniel frowned.
"Who sent it?"
"I don't know."
"But I know exactly what it means."
She turned toward the police commander.
"Seal every entrance to this building."
"No one leaves."
"No one comes in."
The commander immediately radioed his officers.
Within seconds, security shutters closed over the underground parking garage.
Elevators were locked.
Employees were instructed to remain on their floors.
The entire headquarters went into emergency lockdown.
Some executives exchanged nervous glances.
One whispered,
"Isn't this a little excessive?"
Sofia looked directly at him.
"If I'm right..."
"...someone in this building is about to destroy every piece of evidence we've found."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking—
The lights flickered.
The conference room was plunged into darkness.
Gasps echoed through the room.
Emergency lights glowed dimly along the walls.
At the same moment, alarms began screaming throughout the building.
The IT director rushed to his laptop.
"We've lost the servers!"
"What?"
"The main database is being erased!"
Daniel's heart nearly stopped.
Years of financial records...
Client contracts...
Internal communications...
Everything was disappearing before their eyes.
Sofia grabbed the IT director by the shoulder.
"Where's the backup center?"
"Sublevel Three."
She didn't hesitate.
"Take me there."
Daniel stood up.
"I'm coming with you."
"So am I," said Sheikh Omar.
The elderly investor surprised everyone.
"This fraud targeted us as well."
"We finish this together."
The unlikely group raced toward the emergency stairwell.
Behind them, several police officers followed with weapons drawn.
When they reached Sublevel Three...
A thick smell of smoke filled the air.
The reinforced steel door to the server room was slightly open.
Someone was already inside.
Sofia raised one hand.
"Nobody move."
She slowly pushed the door open.
Rows of servers blinked with red warning lights.
The room was empty.
Or so it seemed.
Then...
A metallic click echoed from above.
Sofia looked up.
"Get down!"
An explosion shattered the ceiling.
Dust and metal rained across the room.
One of the heavy server racks crashed to the floor only inches from Daniel.
Police officers rushed inside.
Smoke filled the room so quickly that visibility dropped to almost nothing.
Through the haze, a shadow sprinted toward the emergency exit.
"There!"
Three officers gave chase.
But the figure disappeared into a maintenance tunnel.
Moments later...
A distant explosion shook the building.
The tunnel had been intentionally collapsed.
The suspect escaped.
Back inside the server room...
The IT director suddenly shouted.
"Wait!"
"The backups are still intact!"
Everyone turned.
"What?"
"They tried to erase the servers..."
"...but they couldn't reach the offline archive."
Sofia smiled for the first time.
"They panicked."
"They expected Victor to finish the deal."
"When he failed..."
"They switched to destroying evidence."
"But they were too late."
Daniel let out a long breath.
"So we still have everything?"
The IT director nodded.
"Everything."
But Sofia wasn't celebrating.
She walked toward one damaged server cabinet.
Someone had left behind a small black envelope.
No fingerprints.
No name.
Inside...
There was only one photograph.
Daniel picked it up.
His hands began trembling.
It was a picture of his daughter...
Emily.
Taken that very morning.
On the back, someone had written in red ink:
"Next time, we won't miss."
Daniel's knees nearly gave out.
For the first time in years...
The fearless CEO looked terrified.
Sofia quietly took the photograph from his hands.
"They've stopped targeting your company."
May you like
She looked him in the eyes.
"Now they're targeting your family."
