Chapter 25 - Cracking the Safe
The biometric scanner presented a massive problem. I couldn't simply pry a heavy steel vault out of a reinforced wall without drawing the attention of the night security staff, and I certainly didn't have Daniel's fingerprint to grant me access.
But I was the architect who had redesigned the building’s power grid. I knew its vulnerabilities.
I immediately called my lead systems engineer, a fiercely loyal employee named David who despised Daniel just as much as I did. Despite the late hour, David arrived at the office within twenty minutes, carrying a heavy-duty hacking rig.
"It's an outdated magnetic-lock system tied to a biometric relay," David muttered, shining his flashlight into the narrow gap behind the bookshelf. "Daniel was cheap. He bought a high-end scanner but wired it to a standard analog locking bolt. Give me ten minutes to bypass the relay."
I stood by the window, watching the street below. A dark gray sedan was parked across the street, its engine idling. The tinted windows obscured the driver, but a cold shiver ran down my spine. Silas Vance was watching the building.
"We need to move fast, David," I urged, keeping my eyes on the sedan. "We have company."
"Got it!" David exclaimed. A sharp, mechanical click echoed from behind the woodwork.
With a heavy groan, the entire section of the mahogany bookshelf swung outward on hidden hinges, revealing a sleek, matte-black steel safe embedded in the concrete wall.
I pulled the heavy handle. The safe door swung open.
Inside rested a single, waterproof Pelican case. I pulled it out and popped the latches. The contents were explosive. There were three heavy stacks of bearer bonds, a collection of encrypted USB drives, and a black leather ledger detailing over twelve million dollars quietly transferred to an account in the Cayman Islands under the name Silas Vance.
Daniel wasn't just paying an appellate law firm. He had hired Silas years ago as a permanent fixer. Silas wasn't a lawyer; he was an accomplice.
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"He's funding his entire appeal with dirty money," David whispered, staring at the ledger in absolute shock.
"Not anymore," I said, zipping the ledger and the drives into my briefcase. "He just handed us the rope to hang him."
