Chapter 9 - The Leak in the System
The forty-eight-hour deadline ticked down with agonizing slowness inside the sterile prison cell.
Daniel paced the small concrete floor,
his mind replaying every detail of his final conversation with Claire in the penthouse.
He realized now that her calm demeanor wasn't just resignation;
it was the absolute certainty of a predator who had already sprung her trap.
Suddenly,
a faint,
muffled buzz vibrated from beneath his mattress.
Daniel dropped to his knees,
sliding his hand under the rough wool blanket to retrieve the burner phone.
He pressed the answer button and brought the device to his ear,
holding his breath.
"Boss,"
the hacker's voice whispered urgently through the static.
"I bypassed the Department of Justice mainframe."
Daniel gripped the phone tighter,
his knuckles turning white.
"Did you find her location?"
"Not an exact street address,
because the file is heavily encrypted under top-secret judicial seal,"
the hacker reported rapidly.
"However,
I traced a series of high-value wire transfers used to purchase coastal property in Maine."
Daniel's eyes narrowed as he processed the geographical clue.
"Maine,"
he muttered softly.
"Pine Tree State,
rocky coastline,
isolated towns."
"That is not all,
boss,"
the hacker continued,
his voice trembling slightly.
"Someone else accessed that exact same file twenty minutes ago from an IP address inside the Department of Homeland Security."
Daniel frowned,
instantly sensing a deeper betrayal within the government ranks.
"Who?"
"A high-ranking federal prosecutor named Arthur Sterling,"
the hacker revealed.
"And get this,
boss—he is Claire's cousin."
A cold,
deadly silence filled Daniel's cell as the pieces of the puzzle clicked violently into place.
Claire hadn't just acted alone;
she had utilized deep family connections within the federal justice system to orchestrate his complete legal annihilation.
"Arthur Sterling,"
Daniel repeated the name like a death sentence,
tasting the syllables on his tongue.
"Find everything on him,
every dirty secret,
every offshore account,
every vulnerability."
"On it,
boss,"
the hacker replied before disconnecting the call.
Daniel slid the phone back into its hiding spot,
a terrifying grin spreading across his face.
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If Claire wanted to play a high-stakes game of chess using federal laws,
he was more than ready to burn the entire board down.
