Chapter 7 - The Collapse of the Board
Down in the main corridor, terror had turned into total chaos.
The red emergency lights strobed wildly as executive guests from the ballroom below began flooding the upper hallways, banging on the locked fire doors. Security guards were screaming into their radios, their voices cracking with panic as the hotel's primary communication network collapsed into white noise.
Evelyn Vance was kneeling on the carpet, clutching her father's arm as he screamed into his encrypted satellite phone.
"I don't care about the quarantine!" Richard Vance roared into the phone. "Get my private strike team onto the roof right now! The biological assets are on floor eighty-five!"
"Father..." Evelyn sobbed, pulling on his jacket. "What are you talking about?! What assets?!"
Vance shoved his daughter away with brutal force. "Shut up, Evelyn! You think this wedding was about your happiness?! Sterling Logistics was the shell company I needed to transport the test subjects to the European buyers! If those four girls leave this hotel, we are ruined!"
Evelyn stared at her father, her tear-streaked face freezing in utter, horrifying realization. The man she had idolized her entire life wasn't trying to protect her honor—he was trying to secure his weapons ledger.
Suddenly, the heavy oak door to the private office exploded outward in a shower of splintered wood and brass hinges.
Julian stepped out into the hallway. His white shirt was stained with soot, his eyes wild, his hair messy. Behind him walked Clara Mercer.
Richard Vance turned, his face twisting into a sneer as he drew a compact titanium pistol from inside his tailored jacket. "Clara... you miserable rat. I should have incinerated you five years ago!"
"Put the gun down, Richard," Julian said, his voice loud, commanding, and echoing over the alarms.
"Shut up, Julian!" Vance barked, raising the gun toward Clara's head. "You're a middle-management accountant I elevated into a puppet! You sign my papers, you take my daughter, and you keep your mouth shut!"
"I signed your papers, Richard," Julian said, taking a slow step forward, his eyes locking onto Vance's trembling gun hand. "But I also audited your private accounts last night."
Vance froze, his finger tightening slightly on the trigger. "What did you say?"
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Julian pulled his black smartphone from his pocket, holding it up so the glowing screen was visible to the security cameras lining the hallway.
"The master encryption key to Vance Bio-Tech's off-grid server isn't on a drive," Julian whispered, a dark, brilliant smile spreading across his face. "It's a biometric frequency. And I just broadcasted your children's genetic signature directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, and the Department of Defense."
