Chapter 14 - The Phantom Corporation
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Using the depository's secure Wi-Fi, I pulled up my old legal firm's encrypted database on Lena's laptop. My burns screamed in protest as I hunched over the screen, but muscle memory took over. I was back in my element. I was the hunter now.
I traced Apex Holdings through three different offshore tax havens, cutting through the corporate red tape that would take local police months to decipher. Daniel was sloppy. He relied too heavily on Judge Reed to suppress investigations, leaving digital footprints everywhere.
"Look at this," I pointed to the screen. "Daniel isn't the boss. He's a middleman. He transferred forty million dollars last week to an account in the Cayman Islands, but the transaction is pending. It requires a physical counter-signature."
"The ledger," Lena whispered.
"Exactly. The syndicate is squeezing him. They want their money, and they want the ledger to prove the network is secure. Daniel is desperate. A desperate man makes mistakes."
Suddenly, the heavy steel door of the vault lobby groaned above us. Footsteps echoed down the spiral staircase. Heavy, synchronized footsteps. It wasn't the bank manager.
Lena slammed the laptop shut. I grabbed my father's journal and shoved it down the front of my oversized scrubs.
"They found us," Lena breathed, her eyes darting to the only exit.
"Daniel put a tracker in my purse," I realized, tossing my expensive designer bag onto the floor. "He didn't just bail out. He came straight for the prize."
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We backed into the darkest corner of the vault, hiding behind rows of massive steel deposit boxes. The footsteps grew louder. Two men in dark suits stepped into the vault, holding suppressed pistols. They weren't police. They were syndicate cleaners.
And they were looking right at my discarded purse.
