Chapter 15 - The Summit
The Global Economic Summit was held in a sprawling, glass-walled convention center in downtown Manhattan. The security was absolute, patrolled by private contractors and federal agents. Sarah, Mark, and Chloe operated from a rented van parked three blocks away, disguised as a municipal utility vehicle.
Inside the van, monitors glowed with the live feed of the summit. Elias Thorne stepped up to the podium, looking immaculate in a bespoke suit, exuding power and untouchable arrogance. He began to speak about corporate responsibility and the future of global ethics—a hypocrisy so profound it made Sarah physically ill.
"I'm in the mainframe," Chloe announced, her fingers flying across her mechanical keyboard. "I've bypassed their secondary firewall. I need two minutes to route the video feed to our server."
"Do it," Sarah said, her heart hammering violently against her ribs.
On the screen, Thorne smiled charmingly at the audience. "We must hold ourselves to the highest standards of transparency..."
"Execute," Chloe said, slamming the enter key.
Instantly, the massive screens behind Thorne went black. The feed to the news networks flickered. When the image returned, Thorne was gone. Instead, the screen displayed the face of Arthur Vance, sitting behind his news desk.
"Good evening," Vance’s voice echoed through the convention center, drowning out the panicked shouts of the technicians. "The man standing before you, Elias Thorne, is the architect of the largest financial syndicate in modern history."
Thorne spun around, his perfect composure shattering as the screens flashed high-resolution images of the master ledger, highlighting his offshore accounts, the bribes to federal judges, and the money laundering fronts.
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"The complete database is now live on the global wire," Vance continued.
In the van, Sarah watched Thorne’s face contort in absolute rage and terror as the audience of billionaires and politicians erupted into chaos. The untouchable man had just been stripped naked in front of the entire world.
