Chapter 33 - A Dangerous Alliance
The arrest of Elias Thorne was a monumental victory, but the fallout was chaotic. The media frenzy was unprecedented as the full scope of Thorne’s shadow syndicate was exposed to the public.
While Thorne sat in a federal holding cell, refusing to speak without a team of high-priced lawyers, Olivia knew the war wasn't completely over. Thorne had a failsafe.
Max contacted Olivia later that evening on the secure line.
"I have bad news, Olivia," the hacker said, looking grim. "Thorne had an automated 'Dead Man’s Switch' programmed into his secondary servers. If he isn't able to enter a biometric passcode every forty-eight hours, an automated program will release highly classified, falsified documents framing your foundation for massive tax fraud and international terrorism. It will destroy your charity and send you to federal prison."
"Can you hack it?" Olivia asked, her heart sinking.
"No," Max admitted in frustration. "It’s military-grade encryption. The only way to stop the broadcast is to input the master decryption key."
"Where is the key?" Miller asked.
"That’s the catch," Max sighed. "According to the server logs, Thorne didn't create the encryption. Vanessa Harrington did. She held the master key as leverage against him before she was arrested."
Olivia felt a sickening wave of revulsion wash over her. The only person who could save her foundation, and her freedom, was the very monster who had pushed her down the stairs.
"I have to go see her," Olivia said, making a decision that made her skin crawl.
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"Olivia, no," Miller argued. "Vanessa is a sociopath. She will manipulate you. She will use this to hurt you."
"I don't have a choice, Arthur," Olivia replied, her resolve hardening. "If that failsafe triggers, thousands of abuse survivors lose their safehouses. I will not let Vanessa win from behind bars. Set up the visitation."
