Chapter 19 - The Archive Room
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Thomas and Lila were organizing the basement archives of the Open Door Project when Mara found them. The old garment building had a vast subterranean level that Thomas had painstakingly converted into a secure storage facility for physical evidence. Steel shelves lined the walls, filled with acid-free boxes containing the recovered histories of Vivian’s victims.
"Thomas," Mara called out as she descended the concrete stairs. "I need you to pull the old architectural plans for the Whitmore Foundation's auxiliary properties."
Thomas wiped his hands on a rag, stepping out from behind a row of shelves. "The auxiliary properties? Most of those were seized by the feds and sold at auction."
"Not all of them," Mara said, handing him a printed list Naomi had just generated. "Before Vivian and Vance split their network, they co-owned a holding company called Apex Solutions. It was dissolved, but the physical assets had to go somewhere."
Lila walked over, holding a clipboard. "If Vance is operating a secure server room at his estate, he needs a backup. Men like that never keep all their leverage in one place. They always have a fail-safe."
"Exactly," Mara nodded. "Celeste said Vance records everything. If his main servers are at the Hamptons estate, there has to be a physical backup drive hidden in a property he acquired from the Apex dissolution."
Thomas spread the list out on a metal table, putting on his reading glasses. "Apex owned three properties. A warehouse in Queens, an office park in Jersey, and... an old maritime shipping office in Red Hook. The Red Hook property was never sold. It’s still listed under a blind trust."
"A maritime office," Lila said thoughtfully. "Thick concrete walls, built to withstand flooding, old-school vault doors. It’s the perfect place to hide a localized, off-grid server."
"How quickly can we get eyes on that building?" Mara asked.
May you like
Thomas smiled, a grim, determined expression. "Elena is already out in the field doing perimeter checks for our new safe house. I’ll send her the coordinates. If Vance is hiding Sarah's boy, the data trail leading to that child is sitting in Red Hook."
"Tell Elena to be careful," Mara said. "Vance uses private military contractors. We can't afford a confrontation without Ortiz and a warrant."
