Chapter 9 — The Shot in the Dark
The gunshot echoed through the Financial Crimes Division.
Then came screaming.
Emergency lights flickered to life, bathing the hallway in flashes of red.
For one suspended moment, no one moved.
Then Detective Rachel Monroe shouted, "Everyone stay down!"
Daniel instinctively pulled Olivia's chair behind a heavy conference table, shielding her with his body. Maya Chen ducked beneath her workstation while officers rushed toward the sound with weapons drawn.
Another alarm began blaring.
LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED.
Steel security doors slid into place throughout the building.
Rachel pressed her radio.
"Shots fired on the third floor. Possible active suspect. Seal every exit."
Only static answered.
The building's communications had gone dead.
At the end of the corridor, Officer Ben Harris lay against the wall, clutching his shoulder.
"It's not fatal," he gritted through clenched teeth. "The shooter fired once... then ran."
Rachel knelt beside him.
"Did you see who it was?"
He shook his head.
"Black hoodie. Gloves. Face covered."
"Man or woman?"
"I... couldn't tell."
An evidence technician pointed toward the emergency stairwell.
"The door was forced open."
Rachel immediately sent officers after the suspect.
Within minutes, they returned.
"Nobody."
"What do you mean nobody?"
"The stairwell's empty."
Rachel frowned.
"Check the surveillance cameras."
A technician hurried into the control room.
Seconds later, his voice echoed back.
"They're offline."
"All of them?"
"Every camera lost power exactly four seconds before the shooting."
Rachel's jaw tightened.
This hadn't been random.
Someone had known exactly how the building worked.
Meanwhile, Maya rushed back into the forensic lab.
The computers were rebooting.
Most of the copied files had survived.
Most.
She opened the folder containing Ryan's video.
Empty.
She checked the backup server.
Also empty.
"No..."
Daniel stepped beside her.
"What happened?"
"The video's gone."
Rachel entered just in time to hear those words.
"Deleted?"
Maya nodded.
"And not by the blackout."
She typed rapidly.
"The deletion command happened thirty-eight seconds before the power failed."
Rachel understood immediately.
"Someone was already inside the network."
Someone with administrator-level access.
Across town, inside the county detention center, Vanessa was watching the evening news on the common television.
The breaking headline filled the screen.
SHOOTING REPORTED AT FINANCIAL CRIMES DIVISION
Her expression changed.
Not to fear.
To confusion.
She whispered to herself,
"No..."
Her attorney, seated across from her, noticed.
"You weren't expecting that."
Vanessa slowly looked up.
"I told them not to use violence."
The attorney blinked.
"Them?"
Realizing her mistake, Vanessa immediately fell silent.
Back at Mercy Memorial Hospital, Michael Carter stood outside the NICU, watching his tiny grandson through the glass.
The infant remained on a ventilator.
Every mechanical breath sounded painfully fragile.
Michael placed one hand against the window.
"I'm sorry."
His voice was barely audible.
"So very sorry."
A woman approached quietly from behind.
It was Amelia Brooks, the company's legal counsel.
She handed him a sealed folder.
"I didn't want to discuss this over the phone."
Michael accepted it.
"What is it?"
"The independent audit."
He opened the first page.
His hands began to tremble.
The report identified over $2.3 million in fraudulent transactions.
Far more than anyone had imagined.
And at the bottom of the final page, one sentence had been highlighted.
Additional unauthorized transfers appear to originate from an executive account created twelve years ago under the codename "FOUNDER."
Michael stared at the word.
Founder.
Only one account in the company had ever carried that designation.
His father's.
The account had supposedly been closed years earlier after the founder's death.
Michael whispered,
"That's impossible."
Amelia looked at him carefully.
"Is it?"
Michael slowly closed the folder.
For the first time...
He realized the conspiracy might have started long before Vanessa.
Long before Ryan.
Perhaps even before Daniel had joined the family business.
As he stood there trying to process the impossible, his phone vibrated.
A text message.
Unknown number.
Only six words.
You're looking in the wrong generation.
Michael's face went completely white.
Because only one other person alive knew what those words meant.
May you like
And that person...
Had supposedly died fifteen years ago
