Chapter 45
The FBI field office in downtown Seattle was a chaotic hive of activity when Nathan and Michael arrived. Agents were shouting across desks, phones were ringing incessantly, and the air was thick with the distinct tension of a high-profile, catastrophic crisis. Sarah Collins met them at the security checkpoint, looking completely exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes and a coffee stain on the lapel of her blazer.
"Follow me," Sarah commanded, swiping her security badge to lead them into a secure, soundproof conference room in the back of the building. She locked the door behind them and immediately dropped a clear plastic evidence bag onto the metal table. Inside was a small, blood-stained micro-USB drive.
"The medical examiner pulled it from Vance's stomach," Sarah explained, her voice dropping to a harsh, conspiratorial whisper. "The encryption on this thing is unbelievable. Our cyber division has been hammering at it for three hours, and they haven't even dented the outer firewall."
Michael leaned over the table, examining the drive closely without touching the bag. "That's not standard commercial hardware. Look at the casing. It’s titanium alloy, heavily shielded against EMP bursts. That’s strictly military or intelligence grade."
"Exactly," Sarah sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Which means we have a massive leak inside the Bureau, or someone from a higher agency is involved. Either way, I can't trust my own colleagues with this investigation. If I log this into the official federal evidence matrix, it will magically disappear by midnight."
Nathan looked at the drive, his mind racing through their limited options. "You need someone outside the system to crack it. Someone they aren't monitoring."
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Sarah looked directly at Nathan. "I need Ethan. I know it's a massive risk to ask a civilian, let alone your son, to handle classified, highly illegal hardware. But he is the best cryptographer I know. If he can break the encryption, we might find out who actually ordered the hit on Vance."
Nathan hesitated. Dragging Ethan back into the direct line of fire was the last thing he wanted as a father. But he also knew his son was already involved the moment the servers were attacked. "Bring the drive to the house," Nathan decided firmly. "We do this completely off the books."
