Chapter 12 - A Ghost from the Grave
“Mrs. Vance? You need to look at the primary server logs right now,” shouted Marcus, the head of corporate cybersecurity, his voice frantic and breathless.
Elena frowned, pulling the phone closer. “Marcus, calm down. What are you talking about? Victor’s network is being seized as we speak.”
“That’s just it,” Marcus replied, the sound of furious keyboard typing echoing in the background. “The microchip your granddaughter brought us… it wasn’t just an encryption key for Apex Global’s financial records. It’s a master recovery seed. And it just triggered an automated data dump from an encrypted drive registered under a dead man’s switch.”
Elena stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the hardwood floor. “A dead man’s switch? Whose?”
“Your late son-in-law’s,” Marcus said, his voice dropping to a terrified whisper. “And the recovery location isn’t overseas, Mrs. Vance. It’s pinging from a basement terminal located directly beneath this estate.”
Elena stared across the room at the heavy oak door leading down to the underground catacombs where they had hidden hours earlier. “That’s impossible. The catacombs were sealed thirty years ago after the old foundation was reinforced.”
“Well, someone unsealed them recently,” Marcus said grimly. “And according to the logs, they just downloaded every single proprietary file Vance Enterprises owns—including the patents your husband left behind.”
Before Elena could process the catastrophic implications, the power in the entire mansion flickered once and died, plunging the study into pitch darkness save for the dying embers of the fireplace.
Maya gasped, pulling the wool blanket up to her chin. “Grandma? What’s happening?”
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Elena slowly lowered the phone, her mind racing through the horrific realization that they had walked right into a trap that had been set years before either of them ever stepped foot in the ballroom.
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