Chapter 9 - The Broadcast
Down in the sub-basement, Jenkins watched the upload bar hit 99%.
Outside, the sirens of a dozen police cruisers wailed. The corrupt officers on Arthur’s payroll were arriving, preparing to breach the mansion and execute everyone inside to protect their secrets.
“Come on, come on,” Jenkins muttered, hitting the terminal.
100%. Upload Complete. Data Disseminated.
Instantly, Jenkins’s phone vibrated. Then Cho’s radio sparked to life. It wasn't local chatter. It was the FBI emergency tactical channel.
The files had bypassed the corrupt regional offices and gone straight to the Director of the FBI in Washington, simultaneously broadcasting to the investigative desks of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. The raw, unedited footage, the banking ledgers, the blackmail notes. It was a digital nuclear bomb.
Within minutes, the local police surrounding the building received stand-down orders directly from federal marshals. Black SUVs tore through the front gates, heavily armed federal agents swarming the property, arresting the corrupt local cops and securing the gala guests.
Cho limped down the stairs into the sub-basement, bleeding slightly from a graze on his arm, but smiling. “We did it, Sarah. It’s out. All of it.”
Jenkins let out a breath she felt she had been holding for days. “Where’s Elias?”
They rushed to the roof. They found the bodies of the guards, and they found Arthur Vance, lifeless in the rain.
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But Elias Thorne was gone. The only thing left behind was the titanium briefcase, popped open, its contents destroyed by a single point-blank gunshot, and a small, silver compass resting on top of it. It was the compass Elias used to navigate the woods. A silent goodbye.
The ghost had returned to the shadows, his life's mission complete.
