Chapter 25 - The Federal Grid
I stood motionless in the dim light of the Blackwood bunker, the burner phone silent in my hand. Beside me, Emma had curled up against the pillow, exhausted by the terror of the night, her chest rising and falling in rhythmic slumber.
I looked at the satellite terminal on the desk. Arthur hadn't just left an audio diary; he had prepared a direct tactical link to an emergency secure channel.
I booted the system. Within seconds, a secure broadband connection flared to life, prompting a login: *DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE — FINANCIAL CRIMES TASK FORCE / SOVEREIGN JURISDICTION.*
Arthur had been an informant. Before he passed, he had turned states' evidence against his own uncle’s global syndicate, but Douglas Sterling’s reach into the federal court system had repeatedly stalled the indictments.
I typed in the coordinates and the account numbers Arthur left in the leather binder, adding Brenda’s desperate transmission details from Port Hope. Within thirty seconds, the screen blinked from amber to urgent blue.
A video feed connected. The face that appeared on screen was middle-aged, sharp-featured, with iron-gray hair and the cold, focused eyes of a career federal prosecutor. The nameplate on his uniform read: *SPECIAL AGENT MARCUS VANCE — U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE.*
"Claire Sterling?" Agent Vance leaned forward, his voice cutting through the speaker with immediate authority. "Where are you? We lost your signal when the storm knocked out the Blackwood substation. Douglas Sterling’s ankle monitor was bypassed forty-eight hours ago with high-level military scramblers. We have tactical teams scouring the tri-state area."
"He broke into my home tonight, Agent Vance," I said, my voice completely devoid of tremor. "He had two armed operators. They shot up my house. They chased me through the mountain pass. Emma is with me. We're safe in Arthur’s warehouse, but not for long."
Vance’s face darkened with fury. "Are you injured? Is the child harmed?"
"We’re bruised, but alive. Listen to me, Agent Vance. Douglas has Brenda at the Port Hope commercial marina. He’s loading sovereign liquid assets onto an unregistered cargo vessel. And he’s heading toward the family cottage at Whispering Pines to recover the physical Zurich encryption drive."
"Whispering Pines is forty miles north of your current position," Vance said, his fingers flying across a keyboard off-camera. "The roads are blocked by trees and downed power lines. Our regional helicopter unit is grounded until dawn because of sixty-knot gusts."
"Then you won't get there before him," I replied flatly. "Whispering Pines has a private lake access road that Douglas’s heavy snowcat vehicles can navigate with ease. If he gets that drive and reaches international waters from Port Hope, he erases the sixty percent majority trust forever. Emma will spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder."
"Claire, do not engage," Vance warned, his tone deadly serious. "You are dealing with corporate mercenaries who do not answer to the Department of Justice. Douglas has nothing left to lose. If he goes down, he takes everyone with him."
"Then let him try," I said softly. "I have the keys, Agent Vance. And unlike Douglas, I’m not running to save money. I’m running to finish what my husband started."
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I didn't wait for his response. I terminated the connection, pulled the hard drive from the console, slipped Arthur’s tactical semi-automatic pistol from the desk safe into my waistband, and woke Emma.
"Time to move, sweet girl," I whispered, pulling her warm coat tight and lacing up her boots. "We have one more stop to make."
