Chapter 9 - The Fall of the House of Walker
For three long seconds, the only sound on the roof was the thunderous beat of the helicopter blades cutting through the rain.
Then, a red laser dot appeared on the center of Arthur Walker’s chest.
A second later, a third, and a fourth.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS! THIS IS THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION! STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY!"
A massive police tactical helicopter descended from the clouds above, its blinding fifty-thousand-lumen searchlight flooding the roof in brilliant white light.
Swat officers lined the skids, weapons aimed down.
From the roof access doors, Detective Vance, surrounded by a dozen armed federal agents, burst onto the concrete.
"Put the gun down!" Vance roared through a bullhorn. "Arthur Walker, you are under arrest for federal conspiracy, domestic terrorism, and multiple counts of first-degree murder!"
The two tactical guards looked at the SWAT chopper above, then at the federal agents surrounding them. Slowly, deliberately, they dropped their submachine guns onto the wet concrete and raised their hands.
Arthur stood alone in the center of the blinding white spotlight.
He looked at the guards, then at Vance, and finally back at me.
His face didn't show fear. It showed a cold, arrogant contempt for the world closing in around him.
He reached slowly into his inner coat pocket.
"SNIPER, COVER!" Vance yelled.
Arthur didn't pull a gun. He pulled a small, silver thumb drive—the master physical key to Vanguard’s global encryption network.
He looked me dead in the eye, raised his hand, and tossed the drive into the roaring blades of the helicopter main rotor.
CLANG!
The drive vanished into a spray of metal sparks as the rotor shattered it into dust.
"You get nothing, Ethan," Arthur whispered, smiling faintly as the federal agents tackled him to the wet concrete, forcing his arms behind his back and snapping the heavy steel cuffs around his wrists. "You will always be just a nurse in my hospital."
I walked past him as they dragged him toward the roof door.
I didn't say a word. I didn't need to.
I held up my phone. On the screen was an open file transfer bar that read: UPLOADING TO FBI REGIONAL SERVER... 100% COMPLETE.
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I had started the upload three minutes before I ever stepped onto the roof.
Arthur saw the screen. For the first time in his life, his eyes widened in absolute, helpless shock as the agents shoved him down the stairwell into the darkness below.
