Chapter 6 - The Breach of Sterling Tower
Back in downtown Manhattan, the backup generators in the basement holding facility finally kicked in, bathing the concrete room in a harsh yellow light.
Marcus Vance wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, breathing heavily as he looked toward the reinforced steel door of the holding cell. “Check the hallway! Go!”
The two enforcers drew their sidearms and cautiously pulled the cell door open.
The hallway was empty. But embedded deep into the solid steel door frame of the adjacent security locker was a heavy iron crowbar, driven through the metal like it was made of balsa wood.
“Boss... look at this,” one enforcer stammered, pointing down the corridor.
The security monitor station was completely smashed. The main server racks had been ripped open, their internal circuit boards glowing with tiny sparks of dying electricity. On the central wall screen, spray-painted in thick, dripping red paint, were three simple words:
AUDIT IS COMING.
“He’s gone,” Marcus whispered, horror washing over him. “How the hell did a handcuffed mechanic break out of a maximum-security subterranean holding cell without tripping a single silent alarm?”
Before the enforcers could answer, Marcus’s secure satellite phone buzzed violently in his pocket.
He pulled it out with trembling fingers and pressed accept.
“Marcus! Where the hell are you?” Richard Sterling’s voice screamed through the speaker, frantic and enraged. “A team of federal agents just raided my penthouse! They’ve seized the offshore tax binders, the patent transfer logs, and the original 2006 lab safety reports!”
Marcus staggered backward, dropping his tablet. “That’s impossible! Those files were locked in the encrypted vault behind my office!”
“They weren't hacked, you idiot!” Richard roared. “Someone walked right through the biometric security gates using a master administrative override code encoded with Aaron Vance’s original DNA signature!”
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The line went dead with a sharp click.
Marcus stood frozen in the flickering basement light, realizing with terrifying clarity that the ghost of 2006 hadn't just returned to haunt them—he had come to repossess the entire empire.
