Chapter 4 - The Vance Depths
Three decks below, in the soundproof sub-basement server room of the Aegis, the ambient temperature was kept at a freezing forty-two degrees. Blue and green fiber-optic lights flickered violently across rows of black rack servers that processed encrypted transactions across four continents.
Arthur Pendelton stood in front of a central terminal, his fingers flying across a glass touchscreen interface.
Standing beside him, wrapped in a heavy thermal coat over his blazer, was Gabriel—the chief technical strategist for the Blackwood enterprise.
"The Vance family just executed an automated short position on our port logistics stock," Gabriel reported, gesturing to a red trendline plummeting across the monitor. "Jonathan Vance thinks he has us pinned. He’s using his daughter’s public social media presence to broadcast their location at Sovereign Bay, signaling to their syndicate partners that they control the harbor."
"Jonathan Vance is a fool who raised a louder fool," Arthur said coldly. "He built his entire hedge fund on stolen insider data. He doesn't realize that every device his daughter touches—every public Wi-Fi network her phone connects to—is monitored by our relay stations."
Arthur tapped the screen, bringing up a live video feed from the marina deck.
On the screen, Victoria Vance was still standing near the boardwalk railings, surrounded by her anxious friends. She was frantically typing on her phone, her face flushed with humiliation and panic as she realized the gravity of who she had insulted.
"Is the boy ready?" Gabriel asked quietly, looking over at Arthur.
Arthur paused, his fingers hovering over the glass screen. A rare shadow of hesitation passed over his stoic face.
"Julian is eight years old, Gabriel," Arthur said quietly. "He has lived his entire life in isolated compounds, trained to memorize ledger accounts, asset keys, and threat vectors. He has never played with a toy. He has never had a friend."
"He is a Blackwood," Gabriel replied without pity. "In our world, childhood is an unaffordable vulnerability. If he doesn't learn how to skin a predator today, Jonathan Vance will feed him to the sharks tomorrow."
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Arthur let out a long, silent breath. He pressed a button on the terminal panel.
"Master Julian," Arthur said into the comms line. "The network trap is set. Step to the upper deck."
