Chapter 7 - Secrets of the Safe Box
The heavy steel bars of the drop-gate rattled as Marco slammed his shoulder against them, but the reinforced frame didn't budge an inch.
Above us, Victor held a remote detonator unit in his right hand.
"In five minutes, a small fire will ignite in the main fuel storage bay," Victor announced through the intercom, his tone dripping with fake sympathy. "Tragic industrial accident. The new Chief Logistics Officer and the head of the family, lost in a sudden warehouse fire. I will step back in as interim chairman to handle the crisis."
"Victor!" Dominic shouted, his voice echoing through the chamber without a hint of panic. "You think the Jersey syndicates will protect you? Once I release the financial logs to the board, you are a dead man walking!"
"They won't get the logs, Dominic," Victor sneered. "Because I have the master encryption key right here." He held up a small silver flash drive.
I stepped up beside Dominic, looking directly at Victor through the glass.
"You think that flash drive holds the only copy, Victor?" I called out, my voice ringing clear and steady.
Victor frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You're a businessman, Victor, but you're a terrible logistics coordinator," I said, a subtle, confident smile touching my lips. "Every high-value container that entered this facility was mirrored on an encrypted cloud backup hosted by the State Port Authority. I set up that automated redundancy system three years ago under your brother Vincent's direct orders."
Victor's smile vanished instantly. "You're lying!"
"Check your phone," I challenged him. "The Port Authority server just flagged container #408 for federal inspection three minutes ago. Your entire offshore paper trail is landing on the District Attorney's desk right now."
Victor pulled his phone from his pocket. As his screen lit up with emergency notification alerts, his face turned ash gray.
In that second of total distraction, Dominic drew his weapon, aimed precisely through the narrow gap in the drop-gate bars, and fired a single shot into the overhead electronic junction box powering the gate's magnetic locks.
Sparks showered down. The heavy iron gate released with a loud metallic clack and swung open.
Dominic's guards stormed up the stairs.
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Within seconds, Victor was pinned against the concrete floor, his hands zip-tied behind his back, his breath ragged as Dominic stood over him, stepping on the silver flash drive and crushing it into powder under his boot.
"It's over, Victor," Dominic said coldly. "You're done."
