CHAPTER 21: A DANGEROUS CORNER
CHAPTER 21: A DANGEROUS CORNER
Three months had passed since the Zurich arrests. The Global Alliance was preparing for its most ambitious project yet: the opening of the Lily Vance Sanctuary and Education Center in Geneva—a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to housing and educating orphaned children from around the world.
However, a cornered animal is often the most dangerous.
Inside a high-security federal prison in the United States, Julian Vanguard sat in a small visitor room. Despite losing his corporate empire and serving a life sentence, Julian’s eyes still burned with malice. Sitting across from him was his former lead appeals attorney, Arthur Pendelton.
"The asset forfeiture is complete, Julian," Pendelton whispered nervously. "The Alliance owns everything. Lord Sterling was convicted in The Hague last week. There is nothing left."
Julian leaned forward, his hands shackled to the metal table. "Sterling was weak. He relied on lawyers and bankers. But I built Vanguard from the ground up, and I hid one final failsafe before I was arrested."
Pendelton frowned. "A failsafe?"
"An encrypted master file containing total access to the global logistics servers of the world’s largest maritime shipping companies," Julian grinned chillingly. "It was stored on a physical server hidden beneath my old private estate in Maine. If that server is activated, it will cause total chaos in global shipping, throwing international markets into panic and framing Evelyn’s foundation for cyber terrorism."
"Julian, you're crazy!" Pendelton gasped. "If you do that, you'll never get out!"
"If I can't have my empire, Evelyn won't have her legacy," Julian snarled, his voice laced with absolute insanity. "Contact my old chief of security, Vance. Tell him to activate Project Omega."
Unbeknownst to Julian, every word spoken in the visitor room was being monitored by federal agents through an authorized court wiretap.
Within ten minutes, the audio recording was transmitted directly to Marcus's tactical console at the estate.
Marcus listened to the recording, his jaw tightening with lethal fury. He immediately called Evelyn into the office.
"Julian is trying one last desperate strike from his cell," Marcus said, playing the audio clip. "He thinks he has a hidden server beneath his old Maine retreat."
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Evelyn listened to Julian's bitter, hollow voice. She didn't feel fear; she felt a profound sense of pity for a man so consumed by hatred that he could never move on.
"He wants one last fight, Marcus," Evelyn said calmly. "Let's give him his final defeat."
