Chapter 13 - The Final Transfer
The screens glowed brightly in the damp darkness of the warehouse, displaying a rolling ledger of multi-million-dollar cryptocurrency balances shifting from Julian’s personal accounts into an anonymous, decentralized network of international shell companies. Marcus’s fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard, executing the final script that would permanently lock Julian out of his own digital assets and erase any trace of the transaction logs.
"Ten seconds until the transfer is complete," Marcus announced, watching the progress bar tick upward: 90%, 95%, 98%...
Suddenly, the dual monitors flashed a harsh, warning red. A secondary security protocol—a dormant dead-man's switch programmed by Julian’s cybersecurity firm—automatically triggered the moment an unauthorized IP address attempted to drain the primary wallets.
"What's happening?" Caroline snapped, stepping closer to the table.
"He set a trap," Marcus cursed loudly, his fingers flying across the keys as he tried to bypass the firewall. "The dead-man's switch is pinging the federal cybercrime division with our exact GPS coordinates. They're going to trace this terminal in less than three minutes!"
Elena’s face drained of color. "Can you abort the transfer?"
"If I abort now, we lose everything, and Julian keeps the funds," Marcus shouted, sweat beading on his forehead. "I have to force-override the mainframe!"
The progress bar stalled at 99%. On the screen, a countdown timer appeared in bold red numbers: 02:45... 02:44... 02:43...
Outside the warehouse, the faint, distant sound of approaching sirens broke the silence of the waterfront. Marcus didn't hesitate. He pulled a heavy wrench from the edge of the table and smashed it directly into the auxiliary server tower, severing the physical connection just as the final data packet crossed the threshold into the decentralized network.
The screens went completely black. Silence crashed back into the warehouse, heavy and oppressive.
Marcus breathed heavily, dropping the wrench onto the concrete floor with a hollow clatter. He stared at the dark monitors, then reached down to check the status light on the satellite uplink.
The LED light flickered green.
"Did it go through?" Elena whispered, her voice shaking.
May you like
Marcus checked the encrypted mobile terminal connected to the offshore receiver. A single notification appeared on the screen: Transfer complete. Assets secured.
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