Chapter 9: The Breakout
Angela nodded vigorously, squirming her fingers behind her back until her nails caught the small silver cufflink on Derek’s sleeve. With a sharp twist, she released the miniature ceramic blade Arthur had hidden in the heirloom jewelry decades ago.
“Careful,” Derek instructed, feeling the sharp edge against his hemp ropes.
Working blindly with steady determination, Angela sawed through the fibers. Five excruciating minutes later, Derek’s wrists snapped free. He quickly untied Angela, gently pulling the gag from her mouth.
“They’re going to kill the board members who vote against them!” Angela gasped, rubbing her raw wrists. “Marcus has bribed half the city council!”
Derek walked quietly to the window overlooking the docks. Below, Sterling’s black sedan was speeding off toward downtown Chicago.
“The board meeting starts in forty-five minutes,” Derek said, checking his watch. “We need to get to the Vance Tower.”
“How? We don't have the files anymore!” Angela said, panic creeping into her voice.
Derek turned around, a sharp, confident grin breaking across his bruised face. He reached into his boots, pulling out a pair of high-capacity flash drives.
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“My dad was an engineer before he was an executive,” Derek said. “I digitized every page and uploaded the audio to a cloud server at 4:00 AM. Sterling just stole empty decoys.”
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