Chapter 5 - The Trap at the Railing
The evening air on the top sun deck of the Aegis was cold and sharp. The sun had completely disappeared below the horizon, leaving the sky painted in a bruised shade of deep indigo and black.
Julian stood by the stainless-steel rail, looking down at the pier fifteen feet below.
Down on the wooden walkway, Victoria Vance was pacing back and forth, holding her phone to her ear. Her voice floated up through the quiet harbor air, sharp and frantic.
"Daddy, I’m telling you, Marcus Blackwood is on that boat!" Victoria whispered loudly into the receiver, her eyes darting nervously toward the gangway. "His kid pulled out an access card and unlocked the system! You said Blackwood was stuck in London! He’s here! He’s at Pier 9!"
From the dark shadow of the deck structure behind Julian, Marcus Blackwood stepped forward. He placed a heavy, warm hand on Julian’s shoulder.
"She is taking the bait," Marcus whispered in his son’s ear. "She is calling her father's private server room to verify our digital signature. The moment her call connects, our sub-deck servers will mirror her phone’s encryption keys."
Julian looked down at Victoria. He felt no hatred toward her, no anger for her cruel words on the boardwalk. To Julian, she was simply an equation—a variable that needed to be reduced to zero so his family could survive the night.
"What happens when her father answers?" Julian asked quietly.
"Her father will receive a data packet containing forty years of offshore tax evasion records, private bank transfers, and illegal wiretaps," Marcus replied flatly. "By the time she finishes her sentence, the Federal Reserve will freeze every account associated with the Vance surname."
Down on the pier, Victoria suddenly stopped pacing.
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"Daddy?" she said into the phone, her voice dropping into a confused squeak. "Daddy, why is the line humming? Hello?"
The high-end designer handbag dropped from her fingers, hitting the wooden planks of the pier with a soft thud. The screen of her phone flickered violently, turning from blue to a bright, solid red.
