Chapter 9 - The Plainclothes Men
The two men in plainclothes moved with military precision, flanking the doorway and blocking any exit from the cramped ICU room. Marcus stepped between them, his face twisted into a mask of cold desperation.
"Cut the melodrama, Julian," Marcus sneered, looking down at his brother with absolute contempt. "Playing the dying swan isn't going to stop the board from voting us out by morning."
Clara instinctively stepped in front of Julian’s bed, shielding him with her body despite the absurdity of defending a man whose family had systematically destroyed her life. "Get out of here, Marcus. Can't you see he's in the hospital?"
"Move aside, Clara," Marcus said, his voice dropping dangerously low as he gestured to the two men behind him. "You've caused enough chaos for one lifetime. Grab the bag by the closet," he ordered the guards.
One of the men strode past Clara without a word, heading straight for the small duffel bag containing Julian’s personal belongings and the hospital intake paperwork.
"You're looking for the flash drive, aren't you?" Clara challenged, holding her ground. "The one with the server logs proving who actually drained the holding company accounts?"
Marcus stopped, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her. "You're playing a very dangerous game, Clara. You think because David Chen turned himself in, you have an ally? David is facing twenty years in a federal penitentiary for wire fraud. He'll sign whatever confession we put in front of him by sunrise."
From the bed, Julian let out a weak, ragged laugh, coughing softly against the oxygen mask before pulling it down an inch. "You're too late, Marcus," Julian rasped, his eyes gleaming with a defiant spark. "The drive isn't in the duffel bag. I gave it to the detective who brought Clara here an hour ago."
Marcus’s face contorted into pure rage. He lunged toward the bed, grabbing the metal railing with both hands. "You lying bastard! Where is it?"
Before Julian could answer, the door pushed open again—not with a knock, but with a sharp shove. Detective Miller stepped into the room, flanked by four uniformed officers with their hands resting casually on their holstered weapons.
"Looking for this, Mr. Vance?" Miller asked calmly, holding up a small black USB drive between his thumb and forefinger. "It was handed over to my custody under chain-of-evidence protocol about ten minutes ago. Complete with encrypted server logs, biometric login stamps, and an IP address tracing directly to your personal home office."
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The room fell dead silent. Marcus slowly straightened up, his eyes darting from the flash drive in Miller’s hand to the armed officers blocking the hallway.
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