Chapter 5 - THE MOLE UNMASKED
The humming of the server racks seemed to amplify the life-and-death tension inside the subterranean room. Victor Sterling, a man Naomi had known since she was ten years old, stood holding a gun with cold, unblinking efficiency.
"Victor?" Naomi said, genuine shock leaking into her voice. "You’ve been with my father since the beginning. How could you do this?"
"Your father is a traditionalist, Naomi," Sterling sneered, his finger tightening on the trigger. "He built an empire on physical assets and loyalty. But the world belongs to data now. Vanguard offered me fifty million dollars and a seat on their global board. All I had to do was orchestrate a security breach that looked like incompetence from the top."
"So you were 'The Architect'," Marcus said calmly, slowly shifting his body to place himself between Sterling’s gun and Naomi. "You used Ethan’s desperation to steal the physical diamond, creating a high-profile scandal to draw attention away from the digital code you were installing in the system."
"Ethan was a useful idiot," Sterling chuckled darkly. "He thought he was proving his masculinity by wearing the Carter Diamond. He never knew that the ring box I gave him contained a wireless sniffer that cloned Richard’s biometric credentials while Ethan was standing near him at a charity gala six months ago."
Julian Vance looked horrified. "Victor... you said we were partners!"
"Shut up, Julian," Sterling spat. "You’re an incompetent drunk."
Naomi looked at Marcus out of the corner of her eye. She saw his right hand drop subtly toward his belt. He was preparing to tackle Sterling, but the distance was too great—Sterling would get off at least two shots.
She needed to create a distraction.
"If you shoot us, Victor, you’ll never get out of this building," Naomi said, stepping sideways to widen Sterling’s angle of sight, forcing him to shift his focus away from Marcus. "My father already locked down the elevators the moment the server alert went off. SWAT is on their way down right now."
Sterling’s eyes flickered toward the security monitors on the wall for a fraction of a second.
That split-second was all Marcus needed.
Marcus lunged forward, grabbing Sterling’s wrist and driving him against a metal server cabinet. A deafening gunshot echoed through the enclosed space as a bullet shattered a glass panel overhead.
Naomi didn't hesitate. She grabbed a heavy fire extinguisher from the wall and slammed it into Sterling’s arm, forcing him to drop the gun. Marcus delivered a swift strike to Sterling’s jaw, knocking the CTO unconscious to the floor.
Julian Vance fell to his knees, babbling incoherently as the server room door burst open, and Richard Carter entered with building security and federal agents behind him.
"Naomi!" Richard cried out, rushing to pull his daughter into a tight embrace. "Are you hurt?"
"I’m okay, Dad," Naomi breathed, her heart hammering against her ribs. She looked over her father’s shoulder at Marcus, who was nursing a bloodied knuckle. "We stopped the override."
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Marcus picked up the flash drive from the console and handed it to Richard. "The mole is caught, sir. But Vanguard Holdings is still out there. They still hold twenty-two percent of your company’s stock."
Richard looked at Marcus, then at Naomi, seeing the unmistakable bond that had formed between them amidst the chaos. "Then it’s time we pay Vanguard a visit."
