The armored black Maybach screamed through the massive wrought-iron gates of the Vance Mansion, its tires screeching violently against the smooth stone driveway.
Instead of stopping at the grand front entrance, the vehicle plunged straight down a hidden concrete ramp leading deep into the underground garage.
SCREEECH!
The car came to a sudden halt.
The heavy garage doors behind them slammed shut with a deep mechanical thud, locking out the night world.
Damien Vance stepped out of the vehicle and immediately pulled Evelyn Vance along with him.
They walked rapidly through a set of thick steel doors that opened into a massive, high-tech command center hidden beneath the mansion.
Dozens of giant digital monitors lined the walls of the bunker, flashing with real-time satellite maps and global communication feeds.
On the central screen, twelve flashing red icons were moving rapidly across the map.
They were the incoming international military helicopters sent by Old Master Sterling.
Evelyn Vance stared at the blinking red lights, her face turning pale.
She asked in a trembling voice, “Damien…
what are we going to do?
The international army is coming to arrest us for treason.
We cannot fight the whole world.”
Damien Vance did not look at the screens.
He sat down at the central steel desk and pulled Dr.
Diana Ross’s leather-bound journal from his inside pocket.
He flipped the diary over, his sharp dark eyes inspecting every single millimeter of the old leather cover.
Near the bottom spine, his fingers felt a tiny, microscopic bump.
Damien Vance grabbed a small silver scanner from the desk and ran it over the bump.
BEEP!
A hidden digital barcode flashed onto his desk monitor.
Damien Vance’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing commands with incredible speed.
Damien Vance said in a calm, cold voice, “Old Master Sterling thought he could frame us by fabricating a fake nuclear weapon signature from your mother’s energy core.
But he forgot that your mother kept the raw, unedited quantum telemetry data.
This barcode unlocks the absolute proof that the energy flare was one hundred percent clean, non-radioactive power.”
Suddenly, the heavy ceiling of the underground bunker began to vibrate violently.
CHUG-CHUG-CHUG-CHUG!
The deafening, rhythmic roar of dozens of heavy helicopter blades shook the entire mansion.
The international tactical forces had arrived.
Damien Vance stood up straight, adjusting the cuffs of his perfectly tailored black tuxedo.
He looked at Evelyn Vance, his face filled with an absolute, terrifying confidence.
He extended his hand to her and said, “Come, Evelyn.
It is time to face our guests.”
Together, they rode the private elevator up to the ground floor and stepped out onto the wide, sprawling front lawns of the Vance Estate.
The scene outside was completely chaotic.
Three massive military helicopters had landed directly on the manicured grass, their high-powered spotlights blinding the midnight darkness.
Dozens of highly trained international soldiers wearing full tactical armor sprinted across the lawn, their heavy boots trampling the flowers as they formed a tight circle around Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance.
An international military commander stepped forward from the line of soldiers.
He held a golden warrant in his hand and spoke through a megaphone in a booming, unyielding voice: “Damien Vance!
You and your wife are officially charged with high treason and the illegal possession of an unregistered weapon of mass destruction!
Raise your hands and surrender right now, or we will use lethal force!”
Evelyn Vance gripped Damien Vance’s arm tightly, her breath catching in her throat.
But Damien Vance did not raise his hands.
He did not even look at the weapons pointed at his chest.
Instead, Damien Vance raised his left arm very calmly and looked down at his diamond watch.
Damien Vance spoke in a smooth, cold voice that carried effortlessly across the windy lawn: “You are exactly three minutes late, Commander.
Which means my global broadcast has already finished.”
The international commander furrowed his brows beneath his helmet.
“What are you talking about, Vance?
Surrender immediately!”
Damien Vance reached into his pocket and pressed a single button on a remote control.
FLIP!
Suddenly, a giant holographic display screen shot up from the roof of the Vance Mansion, illuminating the entire midnight sky with brilliant blue light.
The screen showed a live, streaming feed of the international stock market and a massive technical data document.
Damien Vance said with a deadly smile, “The moment your helicopters took off, my security network broadcasted the true, unedited quantum energy data of the Genesis Core to every single major news network, world government, and international court on earth.
The entire world now knows that the Sterling family lied.
They manually falsified the satellite data to manipulate global energy stocks.”
The international commander froze.
Damien Vance pointed his finger at the holographic screen.
“Look at the numbers, Commander.
I do not fight armies with bullets.
I fight them with money.”
Live on the giant screen, the global stock market tracker for Sterling Global Enterprises began to plummet like a stone.
Because the Sterling family had used fake international security reports to manipulate the markets, the International Energy Commission had instantly revoked their trading licenses.
Sterling Global Stock: -30%…
-50%…
-80%!
In less than sixty seconds, the multi-billion-dollar Sterling family empire was completely bankrupted.
Their assets were frozen, and their name was permanently ruined on the global stage.
Suddenly, the tactical radio on the international commander’s vest began to buzz violently with loud static.
The commander reached down and pressed his earpiece, his face turning completely pale as he listened to the voice on the other end.
The voice over the radio shouted frantically: “Commander!
Abort the mission immediately!
The charges against Damien Vance are completely fraudulent!
New evidence shows Old Master Sterling forged the documents!
A federal warrant has just been issued for the immediate arrest of Old Master Sterling for global market manipulation and fraud! Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Retreat right now!”*
The international commander looked at Damien Vance in absolute shock and awe.
The commander slowly lowered his weapon and gave a sharp hand signal to his men.
The commander said, “Lower your weapons!
Fall back to the choppers!”
Within two minutes, the international soldiers scrambled back into their aircraft.
The massive black helicopters lifted off into the dark night sky, their blinding searchlights disappearing into the clouds.
The lawn became quiet once again.
Evelyn Vance let out a massive sigh of relief, her body trembling from the sudden release of tension.
She looked at her husband, completely amazed by his absolute corporate dominance.
“Damien…
you did it.
You destroyed the Sterling family in a single minute.”
Damien Vance wrapped his arm around her waist, but his face did not relax.
He said softly, “The external enemy is gone, Evelyn.
But the war is not over.”
They walked quickly back inside the mansion and descended into the underground command bunker to check on the security logs.
But the moment the steel doors slid open, a loud, high-pitched red siren began to blare violently through the room.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
The giant monitors on the wall were no longer blue.
They were flashing with a terrifying, violent crimson light.
An elite tech guard turned around from his computer terminal, his face filled with absolute panic.
The guard shouted, “Mr.
Vance!
We have a catastrophic security breach!
Someone bypassed our biometric firewalls from inside the mansion!”
Damien Vance’s voice turned dangerously quiet.
“What did they take?”
The tech guard stammered in fear, “The digital safety codes…
the encryption keys for the Genesis Core under the Ross estate…
they have just been completely downloaded and sent to an untraceable external server!
The thief deleted their tracking log, but they used an internal security badge!”
Evelyn Vance gasped in horror, looking around the high-tech bunker.
Damien Vance looked at the empty security station near the back of the room.
His eyes turned into cold pools of deadly ice.
He noticed that one of his most trusted inner-circle guards—a man who had stood by his side for five years—was completely missing from the room.
There was a traitor hidden directly inside the Vance family mansion, and the keys to the world’s greatest energy secret were now out in the wild.