Chapter 43 - The First Strike
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"Architects or not, they threatened my daughter," I said, leaning over the wooden table to meet Alistair’s terrified gaze. "How do we hit them first? Give me a name. A location."
Before Alistair could utter a single word, the encrypted satellite phone in my pocket began to violently vibrate. I pulled it out. The caller ID flashed crimson—a priority one emergency alert from Natalie back at the Sterling Global Foundation headquarters in Phoenix.
I answered the call, hitting the speaker button. "Natalie, what’s going on?"
"Lydia, you need to get to a secure terminal right now!" Natalie’s voice was frantic, layered over the deafening sound of blaring fire alarms and shouting in the background. "We are under a massive cyber-siege. Someone is systematically tearing through our firewalls."
"Is it a ransomware attack?" Ben yelled, having just walked into the cottage after securing the perimeter.
"No!" Natalie shouted over the chaos. "They aren't stealing money! They are burning it! They just completely zeroed out the charitable endowments in our Swiss, Cayman, and Tokyo accounts. Billions of dollars, Lydia. Just... erased. And they left a message on our mainframe."
My blood ran cold. "What does the message say?"
"It’s just an image," Natalie said, her fingers frantically typing on her end. "An ancient crest. A Phoenix rising over a silver crown. And a countdown timer. It’s counting down to midnight on October 14th. Clara's birthday."
Alistair closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "It’s a demonstration. They are showing you that the wealth you seized from the Apex means absolutely nothing to them. They can delete your empire with a single keystroke."
"Natalie, sever the external servers!" I commanded, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Initiate the ghost protocol. Evacuate the Phoenix building and go totally dark. I will contact you on the secondary encrypted line in twenty-four hours."
"Copy that, going dark—"
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The line went dead, leaving only the sound of static and the howling Scottish wind outside the cottage.
"They aren't trying to kill you yet," Alistair whispered, staring at the dead phone. "They are trying to break your spirit before you even arrive in Paris."
