Chapter 5 - The Fall of the House of Whitmore
The security lock on the vault room was an advanced dual-biometric system, but Julian’s preparation paid off. Avery extracted a silicone impression mold—taken from Victor Whitmore’s champagne glass during the first thirty minutes of the party by one of Dominic's undercover operatives—and pressed it against the scanner.
The lock beeped green. The heavy steel door clicked open with a soft hiss of released pneumatic pressure.
Avery stepped inside the cold, climate-controlled room. In the center of the room sat a steel terminal. She pulled a high-speed encrypted flash drive from her garter belt and plugged it directly into the main server port.
The screen flickered to life. Lines of code cascaded down the display as Dominic’s offshore tech team breached Victor’s private ledgers.
Download Complete: 100%
Files Acquired: Whitmore_Offshore_Accounts.dat / Carter_Trust_Embezzlement.pdf / Federal_Bribes_Master.csv
"Got you," Avery whispered, pulling the drive out.
Suddenly, the door behind her slammed open.
Victor Whitmore stood in the doorway, a sleek snub-nosed revolver raised and pointed directly at Avery’s chest. Two heavy guards stood behind him.
"I knew Moretti was up to something," Victor sneered, his breath heavy and ragged. "He thinks he's smart, sending Marcus Carter’s daughter to do his dirty work. Hand over the drive, girl."
Avery held the drive in her hand, her expression unreadable. "You killed my father, Victor. You left him in that burning vault and stole his life's work to build your pathetic kingdom."
"Your father was a fool who thought he could play hero!" Victor spat. "He stayed behind to save people who didn't care about him! Just like you're staying behind now. Give me the drive, or I put a hole through your heart and throw your body into the Lake."
Avery looked at the gun, then at the two guards.
"My father died saving lives," Avery said softly. "I'm living to destroy yours."
Before Victor could pull the trigger, a flashbang grenade bounced into the room through the overhead air vent, exploding with a blinding light and a deafening roar.
The guards screamed, clutching their eyes and ears. Victor fired blindly into the dark, the bullet embedding itself into the wall three feet above Avery’s head.
Avery moved like a shadow through the smoke. She closed the gap on the first guard, striking his solar plexus with a palm strike, grabbing his arm, and executing a shoulder throw that slammed him into his partner.
Victor backed away in terror, his gun shaking, but Avery appeared right in front of him. She swept his gun hand aside, shattered his wrist with a sharp downward elbow, and kicked his knee out from under him.
Victor collapsed onto the concrete floor, groaning in agony, his revolver skittering across the room.
Dominic stepped through the smoke, holding a silenced pistol, flanked by four of his top men. He looked down at Victor, then up at Avery, who was standing tall, uninjured, holding the flash drive in her hand.
"Are you hurt?" Dominic asked, his voice filled with an unexpected, fierce concern.
"I'm fine," Avery said, handing him the drive. "The ledger is secured."
Dominic handed the drive to his lieutenant. "Upload it to the FBI division in Chicago and the State Attorney’s office. Give them twenty minutes before you notify the local police."
Victor looked up from the floor, blood dripping from his nose. "Moretti... please... we can make a deal... I have forty million in Zurich..."
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"That money belongs to the families you robbed, Victor," Dominic said coldly. "Including the Carter estate. You're going to spend the rest of your natural life in a maximum-security federal prison. And your daughter will be begging on the streets of the city she used to think she owned."
Dominic turned to Avery and offered his hand. "Come on, Avery. Let's go save your mother."
