Chapter 50 - The Impossible Demand
Emily stared at the disconnected phone, the sheer magnitude of El Fantasma's threat settling heavily over her shoulders. He wasn't just threatening her life; he was threatening to massacre innocent civilians in her community to force her hand.
She turned to Arthur, tossing the burner phone onto the table. "He wants the decryption keys for the Swiss account. He gave us forty-eight hours."
"We can't negotiate with a cartel boss," Arthur growled, rubbing his jaw in frustration. "Even if we give him the money, he will likely kill us anyway to tie up loose ends and ensure we don't retaliate. But if we don't give him the money, he slaughters innocent people."
"We aren't going to give him the money," Emily said, a fierce, brilliant plan forming in her mind. "We are going to use the money as bait. Sarah, I need you on comms immediately."
"I've been listening through your earpiece, Emily," Sarah's voice crackled through the secure channel. "I traced the ping from the phone call, but he used a heavily encrypted VPN bouncing through six different countries. I can't pinpoint his physical location."
"I know," Emily replied, pacing the cold concrete floor of the warehouse. "But if we initiate the transfer from the Swiss account, can you embed a microscopic digital tracker in the wire sequence? A Trojan Horse program that activates the moment the funds hit his designated servers?"
"Theoretically, yes," Sarah answered, her tone turning deeply analytical. "If he opens the financial gateway to accept the massive transfer, I can slip a tracking algorithm through the firewall and locate his central server farm. But Emily, to initiate that transfer, we need Victor Sterling’s biometric retinal scan to unlock the Swiss account. The digital lock is unbreakable without it."
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Emily looked at Arthur, her eyes cold and resolved.
"Victor is currently sitting in a maximum-security cell at the Altiplano federal prison," Emily said. "I guess it's time for me to pay my ex-fiancé a visit."
