Chapter 28 - Red Lights on Pier 14
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"Federal agents! Don't move!" a booming loudspeaker shattered the quiet of the harbor.
Blinding white searchlights erupted from the tops of the shipping containers, pinning Julianna Vance and her henchmen in a circle of brilliant light.
Dozens of armed tactical officers poured out from the shadows, their rifles trained squarely on the limousine.
"Drop your weapons! Get on the ground now!" the SWAT commander roared.
Julianna’s two bodyguards instantly dropped their handguns onto the wet pavement and raised their hands in the air.
Julianna didn't flinch. She stood tall in the blinding light, her steel-grey eyes fixed entirely on me as the wind whipped her silver hair around her face.
"You think a courtroom can hold me, Lydia Sterling?" Julianna sneered, as federal marshals stepped forward and snapped heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists. "I own judges in five countries. I will be out on bail before the sun comes up."
Ben stepped up beside me, pulling me back into the safety of his shadow as the agents hauled Julianna toward an armored transport vehicle.
"You won't be getting bail, Mrs. Vance," Tessa Morgan spoke, walking out from behind the command vehicle with a thick stack of legal documents in her hands. "The Department of Justice just unsealed a seventy-count indictment under the RICO statute. Every offshore account tied to Vanguard Apex has been seized by international authorities as of ten minutes ago."
Julianna froze, her face finally draining of all color as she realized the full extent of the ambush. The empire her family had built in the dark for thirty years had just been completely dismantled in a single night.
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As the transport vehicle drove away into the fog, its red lights fading into the distance, I took a deep, clear breath of the salty night air.
The ghost of my past was finally gone.
