The red siren continued to flash violently, casting a bloody glow over the entire underground command center.
Damien Vance turned away from the flashing screens, his face completely dark with anger.
Damien Vance said to Captain Leo Chang, “Check the gate logs right now.
Tell me exactly which guard is missing from this room.”
Captain Leo Chang rushed to his main terminal and typed furiously on the mechanical keyboard.
Captain Leo Chang said to Damien Vance, “The logs show it is Marcus, sir.
He has been part of our elite mansion security detail for five years.
I just tried to ping his location, but his personal tracking chip went completely dark two minutes ago near the city harbor.”
Evelyn Vance gripped her mother’s leather journal tightly against her chest, her eyes wide with fear.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “Damien, if Marcus sells those digital encryption keys, the Genesis Core under my family’s estate will be completely unprotected.
Anyone can walk in and steal it.
We have to stop him before he uploads the files to the black market.”
Damien Vance walked over to a heavy steel wall panel and pressed his thumb against the biometric scanner.
The steel panel slid open, revealing an armory filled with advanced tactical weapons.
Damien Vance grabbed a sleek black sidearm and loaded a fresh magazine.
We are hunting Marcus ourselves.
Nobody steals from the Vance family and lives to spend the profit.”
Within three minutes, the stealth helicopter lifted off from the mansion’s private helipad, slicing silently through the dark clouds toward the city harbor.
Inside the vibrating cabin of the chopper, Evelyn Vance rapidly turned the fragile pages of her mother’s diary under a small flashlight.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “Damien, look at this page.
My mother wrote a secret emergency protocol here.
She says that if the digital safety codes are ever stolen, they can be self-destructed remotely from a secondary terminal.
But the system requires both of our biological blood signatures to activate at the exact same time.”
Damien Vance looked at her and said to Evelyn Vance, “Then we force Marcus to tell us where the terminal link is.”
Down at the city harbor, a thick, heavy midnight fog rolled over the water.
The waves splashed quietly against the old wooden docks.
Guard Marcus stood under a flickering yellow streetlamp, holding a glowing silver flash drive in his hand.
A black speedboat was tied to the dock right behind him, its engine idling quietly.
A tall figure wearing a long, dark trench coat walked slowly out of the thick fog.
The figure’s face was completely hidden beneath a low shadow. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Guard Marcus said to the hidden figure, “The Vance mansion is in total chaos right now.
Damien thinks the international army is his only problem.
I have the complete digital safety codes for the Genesis Core right here on this drive.
Where is my five million dollars?”
The hidden figure stopped exactly two paces away from Marcus.
The hidden figure said to Guard Marcus, “You did an excellent job bypassing Damien’s firewalls, Marcus.
But dead men cannot spend money.”
A loud, deafening gunshot shattered the silence of the foggy harbor.
Guard Marcus gasped, his eyes rolling back as the silver flash drive slipped from his fingers.
He dropped heavily onto the wet wooden dock, completely lifeless.
The hidden figure stepped forward, his leather shoe stepping right next to Marcus’s hand.
He bent down and picked up the silver flash drive.
As the figure stood back up, a sudden beam of light from a passing cargo ship cut through the fog, illuminating his face.
It was Director Thomas, the chief financial advisor and most trusted corporate ally of Vance Enterprises.
Director Thomas looked down at the drive, a cold smile appearing on his face.