Chapter 16 - The Ledger
|
The archive room smelled exactly as it had a few nights ago: old paper, cedar, and steel. The massive vault stood at the end of the room, a silent black monolith.
Norah walked toward it, her reflection catching in the dark glass of the biometric panel. She looked like a ghost—pale, covered in dirt, eyes sunken and dark.
She raised her hand and pressed her palm against the glass.
A green light swept beneath her skin.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The heavy locking bolts withdrew. Norah grabbed the steel handle and pulled the twelve-inch-thick door open with a heavy groan.
Inside the vault, sitting on a velvet pedestal, was a simple black leather briefcase.
She pulled it out and set it on the table. The briefcase wasn't locked. She popped the latches and opened it. Inside were dozens of USB drives, physical photographs, and a thick, handwritten ledger.
Norah opened the ledger. It was a masterclass in corruption. Dates, names, bank accounts. Judges who had taken bribes to look the other way. Politicians funded by Romano drug money. Police captains on the Beluchcci payroll.
This was the weapon Damian had inherited. A weapon he had refused to use because it was dirty. But Norah knew you couldn't fight monsters with clean hands.
A heavy pounding shook the archive door.
"She's in there! Blow the lock!" a muffled voice yelled from the hallway.
Norah quickly shoved the ledger and the USB drives into her canvas bag. She looked around the archive. There was no other exit. She was trapped.
May you like
The archive door buckled as a breaching charge was set. Norah stood her ground, raising her pistol, aiming squarely at the center of the door. If she was going to die, she was taking as many of them with her as she could.
The explosion blew the heavy door off its hinges, filling the room with smoke.
