Chapter 15 - The Digital Trap
Liam walked slowly toward the desk, keeping his weapon in his right hand while using his left to type on the keyboard. Reyes stood five feet away, his gun raised again, watching every movement like a hawk.
"Log in," Reyes commanded. "And don't try any silent alarm codes. I know the protocols."
Liam opened the secure terminal. His hands were steady, but his mind was racing. He wasn't actually logging into the Swiss account; he was opening a custom-built decoy program he had designed with the help of a cybersecurity expert friend during his years of rebuilding. The decoy looked identical to the Swiss bank's interface, but it had a hidden function: once a routing number was entered, it would initiate a reverse-tracer protocol, pinpointing the physical location of the receiving server and sending an encrypted alert to the DCIS network.
"Enter the destination routing number," Liam said, gesturing to the screen.
Reyes pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and read off a complex string of characters. Liam typed them in, his fingers flying across the keys.
"It's initiating the transfer," Liam said, showing the screen to Reyes. A progress bar appeared: Transferring $10,000,000.00... 12% Complete.
"Good," Reyes muttered, his eyes locked on the screen. "Now, give me the physical drive. I need to make sure you didn't keep any copies."
"The drive is in the safe," Liam lied, pointing to a small wall safe behind the desk. "I need to input the combination."
As Liam stepped toward the wall, the sound of a distant helicopter rotor began to rumble over the ocean. The sound grew louder, rattling the broken windows of the cottage.
Reyes’s face went pale. "You bastard. You called them."
"It's an automated alert, Victor!" Liam shouted, drawing his weapon as he spun around. "The moment the transfer was initiated, it pinged the federal servers! They know where you are!"
Reyes lunged forward, his weapon firing a wild shot that shattered the desk lamp. Liam threw himself to the floor, rolling as Reyes fired again. The bullet embedded itself in the floorboards inches from Liam's leg.
Suddenly, the front door was kicked open, and Agent Marcus Vance stood in the frame, flanked by four heavily armed tactical officers. "Federal agents! Drop your weapons! Now!"
Reyes didn't drop his weapon. In a desperate, final act of malice, he raised the remote detonator and pressed the red button.
Nothing happened.
Reyes stared at the detonator in disbelief. "What... why didn't it go off?"
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From the hallway, Sarah stepped out, holding a pair of wire cutters she had found in the kitchen drawer. Her white dress was stained with soot, her face pale but her eyes burning with an unshakeable maternal fury. "I cut the receiver wires on the foundation ten minutes ago, Victor. While you were talking, I climbed out of the safe room window."
Reyes gasped, his jaw dropping. Before he could raise his weapon to fire at her, Agent Vance fired a non-lethal taser round, striking Reyes in the chest. The criminal mastermind collapsed to the floor, his muscles convulsing as the officers rushed in to restrain him.
