I WALKED into my brother's custody hearing in combat gear, rifle across my chest, while my parents LAUGHED—but when their attorney touched my armor, I pinned him to a table, and the judge demanded answers I wasn't ready to give. My name is Madison Carter. That was the day everything changed. / Chapter 13 / 40

Chapter 13 - Snaring the Judas

We arrived at a secondary military rally point three miles away from the mansion.

I sat in the front seat of a camouflaged tactical command truck, plugging the silver USB drive into a hardened, air-gapped military laptop.

"Bypassing encryption protocol now," I murmured, watching lines of green code scroll rapidly down the screen.

The silver drive opened, revealing hundreds of encrypted financial ledgers, video logs, and wire transfer receipts.

On the screen popped a master organizational chart of "The Syndicate."

At the very top sat a shell corporation called Aegis Holdings. Beneath it were hundreds of names of prominent politicians, judges, and corporate executives across the country who had been bribed or blackmailed by my father's firm.

"Look at this entry, Commander," Vance said, pointing a finger at a recent wire transfer log dated two days ago.

A five-million-dollar offshore payment had been made directly into a private bank account in the Cayman Islands.

The beneficiary name on the account was: Agent Marcus Vance.

I stared at the screen in utter disbelief.

The head of the federal financial task force—the man who had promised to protect Ethan, the man standing right beside us in the courtroom—was the mole.

"Marcus Vance," I whispered, cold anger gripping my chest. "He wasn't trying to help us catch the Syndicate. He was using our team to find the drive so he could destroy the evidence pointing to himself."

My radio chimed. It was an incoming call from Marcus Vance at the safehouse.

I took a slow, steady breath and answered. "Commander Carter."

"Madison," Marcus Vance's smooth voice came through the speaker. "We received a report of heavy gunfire at your family's estate. Did you secure the drive?"

"We have it, Marcus," I lied smoothly, keeping my tone perfectly natural. "It was damaged in the firefight, but we're bringing it back to the safehouse right now so your tech team can analyze it."

"Excellent work, Commander," Vance replied, a hint of greed slipping into his voice. "Bring Ethan with you. We'll finalize the protective custody papers as soon as you arrive."