Chapter 32 - The Phantom Signal
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It was a quiet Friday evening three weeks later. The foundation offices were empty, the staff having gone home for the weekend.
I sat at my desk, finishing up the monthly grant reports, when a uniformed courier knocked on the frosted glass door of my office.
“Ms. Emily Hayes?” the courier asked.
“Yes,” I replied, standing up.
“This was just delivered to our main desk by a private security service. It requires your personal signature.”
I signed the electronic pad, took a heavy, unmarked black envelope, and waited for the courier to leave before sitting back down at my desk.
Inside the envelope was a sleek obsidian keycard engraved with a metallic silver logo: Vanguard Apex - Global Division.
Beneath the keycard lay a single sheet of heavy cream cardstock with a typed message:
Dear Emily,
Congratulations on sending Victor to prison. He was always a sloppy, emotional tool who mistook arrogance for intellect. We were glad to let you dispose of him for us.
However, the financial ledger you recovered from his clock drive contained an encrypted key to a secondary network. A network that connects three former heads of state, four corporate conglomerates, and your father’s primary international shipping routes.
Victor was merely our junior pawn. Welcome to the real game, Emily.
We’ll be seeing you very soon.
— The Apex Directorate.
I held the note in my hand, feeling my pulse quicken. Outside my office window, a sudden flash of lightning illuminated the dark city skyline as a heavy storm began to roll in.
My phone on the desk chimed with a single, anonymous text message:
Look out your window.
May you like
I stood up slowly, walked to the glass, and looked down at the street three stories below.
Parked directly across from my building was a black armored SUV with tinted windows. As I watched, the headlights flashed twice—and then the vehicle slowly melted into the rain-drenched darkness of the city streets.
