Chapter 7
The digital clock on the hospital nightstand glowed a baleful 2:14 AM. The corridor outside room 304 was entirely deserted, save for the occasional squeak of a nurse’s rubber-soled shoes on the wax-coated floor. Inside the room, Catherine lay motionless, her eyes wide open in the darkness, staring at the ceiling tiles where shifting headlights from passing ambulances traced ghostly patterns.
Julian sat slumped in the armchair, his eyes bloodshot, watching the burner phone like a caged animal waiting for a hunter to return. Thomas had slipped out an hour earlier under the pretext of checking on his law office, but Julian knew the truth—Thomas was verifying his offshore accounts, ensuring his personal assets were entirely insulated from whatever storm was about to break.
Suddenly, the burner phone buzzed against the metal tray.
The vibration sounded deafeningly loud in the quiet room. Julian lunged forward, snatching the device before it could vibrate a second time. He pressed the green accept button and held the phone tightly to his ear.
“Talk,” Julian hissed.
“It’s done,” a raspy, distorted voice replied on the other end of the line. There was the distant sound of wind rushing past a high-speed vehicle, accompanied by the low rumble of an engine. “The impound yard security system was easier to bypass than a suburban bank. The vault on the sedan was pried open in under three minutes.”
Julian’s breath caught in his throat. “And the hard drive? Did you get it?”
“It’s sitting in my glove compartment right now, alongside the onboard telemetry module,” the voice said smoothly. “Physical evidence secured. No backups were left on the local police server; I wiped their local cache before I tripped the perimeter alarm on my way out. The feds won’t find anything when they execute that search warrant in the morning.”
“What about the physical car?” Julian demanded, his heart hammering against his ribs.
“It’s still sitting in the lot, looking like an ordinary accident victim,” the specialist replied with a chillingly casual chuckle. “Just a totaled sedan that ran off a pier. The real data is miles away from that yard. Send the remaining wire transfer to the designated account, or the drive goes straight to the U.S. Attorney’s drop box by five a.m. Pleasant dreams, counselor.”
The line went dead with a sharp click.
Julian lowered the phone slowly, his hand trembling as he set it back on the tray. He looked over at the bed. Catherine was staring at him, her eyes burning with desperate inquiry in the dim amber light.
May you like
“He got it,” Julian whispered, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. “The hard drive is secured.”
Catherine closed her eyes, letting out a long, shuddering breath that sounded like a sigh of relief, though both of them knew the nightmare was far from over.
