Chapter 19 - Cuffs and Consequences
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The state police tactical unit flooded the mansion thirty seconds later, securing the three wounded intruders and wrapping them in heavy plastic flex-cuffs.
Emergency paramedics tended to the man I had shot, while federal agents who had been monitoring the case arrived on the scene within twenty minutes.
The lead FBI field agent stepped into the wrecked living room, looking at the three mercenary operatives being marched out into the rain in handcuffs.
“These men are former foreign contract operatives, Adrian,” the agent reported, holding a encrypted satellite phone seized from the lead intruder. “They didn't break in here for money.”
“Who sent them?” I asked, holding a damp towel against a cut on my forehead while Clara brought me a glass of water.
“We traced the incoming transmission on this satellite phone,” the agent explained, showing me the screen. “The order to execute this hit came from inside the federal correctional facility where Vanessa Reed is currently serving her sentence.”
I frowned. “Vanessa? She’s in maximum security. How could she afford to hire international mercenaries from inside a federal cell?”
The agent looked at me with a grave, troubled expression.
“She didn't pay for it, Adrian,” the agent whispered softly. “Someone else paid her legal fees and funded this team through an untraceable Swiss bank account three hours ago.”
My stomach tightened into a knot.
“Who?”
“We don't know yet,” the agent admitted, shaking his head. “The transfer was authorized by an entity registered only as The Vanguard Group—a syndicate far larger, far wealthier, and far more dangerous than Julian Sterling’s little law firm ever was.”
I looked over at Clara, who was holding Olivia and baby Emma tight near the fireplace. They were safe. The intruders were caught. The house was secure once more.
But as I looked out the broken patio doors into the dark, rain-swept night, a cold, terrifying realization settled over my soul.
Vanessa Reed had been caught.
Julian Sterling was in prison.
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But the true monsters—the ones who controlled the puppet strings from the dark shadows of international finance—were still out there.
And they were just getting started.
