Chapter 18: The Judas Kiss
Back in Seattle, Marcus walked into his private office, locking the heavy doors behind him. Hayes and Sarah were already waiting.
"It's Richard Sterling," Marcus said, the betrayal burning a bitter hole in his chest.
Hayes swore under his breath. "Sterling? The Chairman? Boss, he has highest-level administrative clearance. That’s how the Trojan bypassed our internal security. He didn't hack the firewall; he just walked through the front door."
"He funded my company," Marcus said, piecing the puzzle together. "He used Vale Tech as a legitimate front to build the Syndicate's financial routing software. When Elena found out and stole the ledger, Richard panicked. He used Viktor and Cassandra to clean up his mess. And now that they are dead or in prison, he’s executing the Trojan to steal my company's assets and vanish."
"The Trojan executes at 9:00 AM tomorrow," Sarah warned, typing furiously on her laptop. "During the emergency shareholder meeting Richard just called. We can't just delete the code, Mr. Vale. It’s hardwired into the mainframe. If we try to isolate it, it will trigger an immediate auto-wipe."
Marcus walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the city he had helped build. Richard had smiled in his face. Richard had held Lily when she was a baby. He was the ultimate parasite.
"We don't delete it," Marcus said, turning around with a dangerous, calculating gleam in his eye. "We rewrite the destination."
Sarah paused. "Rewrite it?"
"Richard designed the Trojan to funnel Vale Tech’s billions into his private offshore accounts," Marcus explained. "Sarah, you are the best engineer in the world. I need you to build a mirror-code. A digital sleight of hand. When Richard executes the Trojan tomorrow morning, I don't want it to hit our accounts. I want it to hit his."
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A slow, brilliant smile spread across Sarah’s face. "You want to reverse the siphon. You want to drain his hidden assets."
"I want to take everything he has," Marcus said. "Down to the last cent. Hayes, gather the board. Tomorrow morning, Richard Sterling is going to learn what happens when you threaten my family."
