Chapter 42
The tranquility of the morning completely evaporated, replaced by a surge of adrenaline Nathan hadn't felt since the warehouse raid a year ago. He slammed the receiver down and sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He burst into Ethan’s bedroom. His son was deeply asleep, a pair of noise-canceling headphones resting on his bedside table next to a graveyard of energy drink cans.
"Ethan! Wake up, now!" Nathan ordered, shaking his son's shoulder with urgent force.
Ethan groaned, blinking against the harsh morning sunlight pouring through the blinds. "Dad? What time is it? The gala just ended..."
"Sarah called. We have an active breach protocol. Get to your terminal," Nathan commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument or delay.
Within three minutes, Ethan was sitting at his multi-monitor workstation in the basement, his fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard with blistering speed. Claire stood behind him, her arms crossed tightly, while Nathan paced the floor. The screens illuminated Ethan’s face with lines of rapidly scrolling green code.
"Okay, I'm bypassing the external firewalls and isolating the main server core," Ethan muttered, his eyes darting between three different monitors. "Whoever is knocking on our door is extremely sophisticated. They aren't trying to steal our money, Dad. They are ignoring the financial databases entirely."
"What are they looking for?" Claire asked, her voice calm but layered with unmistakable tension.
"They are targeting the whistleblower registry," Ethan announced, his hands freezing over the keyboard. "The encrypted files containing the identities of every single victim who came forward against the cartel and their corporate sponsors. If they get this list, they have a hit list."
Nathan felt his blood run entirely cold. The Foundation had promised absolute anonymity to the people who had risked their lives to testify. If those names leaked, the blood would be on his hands.
"Can you sever the connection?" Nathan demanded.
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"I can cut the hardline, but it will corrupt the backup sequence," Ethan warned, looking back at his father.
"Do it," Nathan said without hesitation. "Cut the hardline. Nobody touches our people." Ethan slammed his fist onto the master override switch, plunging the server room into total darkness.
