Chapter 6 - The Iron Vault
By Wednesday, the full weight of the federal government had crashed down on Arthur’s empire.
I was back at the federal building, sitting in the tactical operations center with Sarah. The two hitmen I had intercepted in my backyard were currently singing like canaries in federal custody, terrified of the charges hanging over them.
“The Volkovs are panicking,” Sarah said, pointing to a sprawling digital map on the wall. “Your little stunt worked perfectly, Liam. They think Arthur is a rat. They are trying to move their remaining capital out of his offshore accounts before we find them.”
“Let them try,” I said, typing furiously on a secure terminal.
I was running a tracing algorithm I had designed years ago. Arthur had hidden the syndicate’s money in a complex web of cryptocurrency wallets and shell corporations in Cyprus. But he was arrogant, and arrogant men always reuse passwords.
I used the dates of his most abusive encounters with Elise—the dates he had saved on his computer to gloat over—as the decryption keys.
Click.
The screen flashed green.
“I’m in,” I announced.
Sarah leaned over my shoulder. “You found the master ledger?”
“I found everything. Three hundred million dollars in untraceable cartel funds.” I looked up at Sarah. “Do I have the authorization to initiate a total asset seizure?”
Sarah grinned, a feral look in her eyes. “Take it all, Liam.”
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With a single keystroke, I executed the transfer. Across the globe, bank accounts zeroed out. Crypto wallets evaporated. The financial lifeblood of one of the most dangerous syndicates in the world was instantly drained into a secure holding account belonging to the US Department of Justice.
Arthur Vance had just lost the mob’s money. He was officially a dead man walking.
