Chapter 12
Elena froze, the cold muzzle of a shotgun pressing gently against the base of her neck. She didn't dare turn around, her eyes locked onto Julian’s face as he slowly lowered his pistol and raised his empty hands in surrender.
"Don't move, Mr. Sterling," a smooth, chillingly familiar voice commanded from behind them.
Elena recognized that voice instantly. It wasn't one of Mark’s mercenaries. It was the lead federal agent—the silver-haired woman who had supposedly arrived to rescue them and take Mark into custody just moments ago.
Julian let out a slow, heavy breath, his eyes narrowing as he stared up at the corrupt agent. "Agent Vance. I should have known the FBI detail was compromised the moment you didn't check my badge number."
"Agent Miller, actually," the woman corrected smoothly, stepping around Elena while keeping the shotgun leveled at Julian’s chest. "Vance was a useful idiot, but he was far too sloppy. Mark knew his empire was collapsing, so he paid my division a very handsome retainer to ensure that whatever happened today, no survivors walked out of this estate with the decrypted flash drive."
Elena’s blood ran cold. "You... you're working with him too? Even after he's arrested?"
"Mark is a disposable asset, my dear," Miller replied with a cruel, thin smile. "Once he signs over the holding company assets to our offshore shell corporation, federal sentencing guidelines suddenly become... remarkably flexible. But you two? You know the entire structure of the operation. You saw the server backups. You can't be allowed to leave this building."
Miller’s finger twitched slightly on the trigger of the shotgun. The air in the hallway grew suffocatingly thin, every second stretching into an eternity as Elena realized that no federal backup was coming. They were entirely on their own.
Julian didn't panic. His expression remained unnervingly calm, his eyes fixed on Miller’s trigger finger with predatory focus. "You think Miller is the only name on that payroll?" Julian asked softly, a faint, cryptic smile touching the corners of his lips.
Agent Miller frowned, her eyes flickering with a micro-expression of sudden doubt. "What are you talking about?"
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"I mean," Julian said, his voice echoing clearly down the empty corridor, "that your primary backup team downstairs was relieved of their weapons five minutes before you walked through those doors."
Before Miller could process the warning, a sharp, metallic hum echoed from the stairwell below, followed instantly by a blinding flash of tactical stun grenades detonating on the ground floor.
