Chapter 6 - Unmasking the Viper
""Daniel?"" Victor’s voice came through the speaker, dripping with artificial concern and calculated confusion. ""Where on earth are you? We’ve been waiting for you to open the quarterly strategy session. Rumors are spreading that you’ve been wandering the terminal disguised as a vagrant again. Some of the major institutional investors are questioning your mental fitness to continue as Chairman.""
Daniel looked directly into the camera, a cold, merciless smile touching the corners of his lips. ""I’m at Gate 12, Victor. Standing right outside the door of Flight 417.""
On the small screen, Daniel watched the faint twitch in Victor’s left eye—the subtle, microscopic fracture in his sociopathic composure.
""Flight 417?"" Victor said smoothly, though his voice had risen by half an octave. ""Why would you be at a commercial passenger gate? That flight should be pushing back from the tarmac any second.""
""It's not pushing back, Victor. Not today, not ever,"" Daniel replied, angling his phone camera to show Captain Sterling and Frank Miller standing beside him, along with the red-tagged physical inspection binder. ""Frank Miller didn't burn the inspection reports, Victor. And Maya Bennett didn't ignore what she saw in Hangar Seven last night.""
The boardroom on the other end of the video call went dead silent. Several board members leaned forward, murmuring in confusion.
""Daniel, you aren't making any sense,"" Victor blustered, his face beginning to redden beneath his manicured tan. ""If there’s an operational issue, our engineering department will handle it. You shouldn't be alarming the public or the board with dramatic accusations—""
""I have the physical telemetry logs right here, Victor,"" Daniel interrupted, his voice ringing like a bronze bell across the gate. ""Complete with your personal bypass authorization code. I also have the real-time financial tracking from Marcus Vance showing the four-hundred-million-dollar short position placed from Geneva this morning, coupled with the wire transfer to Panama from your brother-in-law's holding firm.""
The board members gasped. Arthur Pendelton, the oldest investor on the committee and a close friend of Daniel’s late father, stood up furiously from the table. ""Victor! What the hell is Daniel talking about?!""
Victor’s mask of corporate civility shattered into pure, venomous malice. ""You think you're untouchable, Daniel!"" he snarled into the camera, abandoning all pretense. ""You’ve run this company like a family fiefdom for two decades while the rest of us took all the operational risks! You think you can treat us like underlings while you play savior to the working class? That plane should have taken you down where you belonged!""
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""Thank you, Victor,"" Daniel said softly, pointing his phone toward the glass windows overlooking the apron. ""You just confessed on an open, recorded line to two hundred witnesses, the entire executive committee, and the United States Department of Justice.""
Down on the tarmac below the executive offices, four black sport utility vehicles with flashing red and blue strobe lights screeched to a halt around Victor’s private Gulfstream.
