Chapter 5 - Digital Warfare
Sirens began wailing in the distance, cutting through the heavy coastal rain as the glowing red transmission complete notification blinked steadily on the warehouse monitors. The two armed guards stared at the flashing screen in absolute horror, realizing they were too late to stop the digital bleeding.
"You just signed your own death warrant, lady," the lead guard snarled, lowering his weapon as the sound of approaching police cruisers grew deafeningly loud outside the warehouse doors.
"No," Elena stepped out from the shadows, her dark eyes flashing with cold fury as she looked him dead in the eye. "Julian just signed his."
Flashing red and blue lights painted the corrugated metal walls of the warehouse as three police cruisers converged on the property, their spotlights blinding the two corporate enforcers. Within seconds, shouting officers swarmed the interior, weapons drawn, forcing the guards to drop their firearms and drop to their knees against the concrete floor. Marcus wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, closing the laptop and sliding the thumb drive into his inner coat pocket.
As the lead investigating officer cuffed the corporate thugs, he recognized Marcus and walked over with a skeptical frown. "Vance? What the hell are you mixed up in this time?"
"Ask the SEC, Detective," Marcus said calmly, gesturing toward the computer terminal. "They should have a very interesting email waiting in their inbox right about now."
Elena walked out of the warehouse into the pouring rain, her dark trousers soaked at the hems, her heavy backpack clutched firmly against her side. She slid into the driver's seat of her SUV, her breathing steady and controlled. Her phone, which she had left powered off in the glove box, began vibrating violently the moment she turned the ignition back on. A string of incoming calls flashed across the screen from an unblocked number: Julian.
She let it ring three times before sliding her thumb across the screen to answer, pressing the speaker button so the audio echoed softly inside the quiet cabin.
"Elena! Where the hell are you?" Julian's voice screamed through the receiver, completely stripped of its usual arrogant calm, trembling with sheer panic. "What did you just do? My corporate accounts have been frozen by federal order!"
Elena smiled faintly, watching the police escorting the two corporate guards into the back of a cruiser through her rain-streaked rearview mirror.
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"I just returned the favor, Julian," Elena said softly, her voice cool and detached. "Enjoy the federal holding cell. You have forty million reasons to think about what you did."
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