Chapter 15 - The Counter-Strike
I didn't panic. Panic was for people who didn't spend a decade tracking down global financial terrorists. Within five minutes of viewing the files, my secure government phone was in my hand, dialing the direct emergency override code for the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Federal Financial Interdiction command.
"This is Director Ellison," I said, my voice cutting through the secure line with absolute, razor-sharp authority. "I am invoking Emergency Protocol Alpha-Nine. Active surveillance and intimidation of a federal law enforcement official and her immediate family by an unmasked transnational criminal syndicate."
"Director, confirm authorization," the duty commander responded instantly, hearing the gravity in my tone. "What are your orders?"
"Authorize immediate, nationwide raids on all corporate addresses listed in the payload drive," I commanded, pulling up the digital ledger on my monitor and reading off coordinates. "Freeze every corresponding corporate account in Zurich, the Caymans, and New York. Do not wait for judicial sign-off; invoke immediate national security asset seizure under the Patriot Act provisions."
"And the surveillance team near your residence, ma'am?"
"Track the IP address of the device that uploaded those files to the courier drop," I said, my eyes locked on the surveillance photo of my daughter on her school bus. "Find out who sent that package, and send an armed tactical team to their physical location right now. I want them in federal custody before noon."
The digital war room hummed into immediate, devastating action. Across the country, federal agents mobilized in tactical gear, battering down doors of dummy corporations and asset management firms linked to the syndicate. The syndicate had tried to use fear to make me back down, but they had fundamentally misunderstood who they were dealing with.
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I wasn't the quiet woman scrubbing floors in a government annex anymore. I was the architect of their destruction, and I had just locked the cage.
***
