Chapter 10 - The Syndicate’s Counter-Move
The hospital room door swung open with a violent crash.
Special Agent Marcus Vance of the FBI rushed inside, weapon drawn, followed closely by three local police officers. He took one look at the unconscious assassin bleeding on the floor, then at me holding the gun.
“Austin! What the hell happened here?” Vance demanded, lowering his weapon slightly as he assessed the chaotic scene.
“We were just paid a visit by a representative of The Architect,” I said coldly, gesturing to the man on the floor. “He had a remote EMP rig that just wiped our secondary digital archives. The syndicate is moving faster than we anticipated.”
Vance’s face darkened. He holstered his weapon and walked over to the window, looking down at the street below.
“It gets worse, Austin. While you were dealing with this in here, the downtown precinct holding your mother and sister just received an emergency writ of habeas corpus signed by a federal judge on emergency duty.”
My head snapped up. “Holloway? He’s in their pocket!”
“Not just Holloway,” Vance corrected grimly. “The signature belongs to a senior appellate judge from Washington D.C., backed by an executive order citing national security interests. Your mother and sister were just released into the custody of federal marshals ten minutes ago. They’re already gone.”
I stared at Vance in disbelief. The web of corruption didn't just reach the local courts; it extended into the highest corridors of federal jurisdiction. They had used the legal system itself as a weapon to spring my corrupt family members and silence them before they could flip under interrogation.
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“They think by wiping the cloud servers and freeing my family, they’ve cut off our legs,” I said, a dangerous, steely resolve settling deep into my bones.
“What’s left, Austin?” Irene asked quietly, touching my arm. “The physical dossier in this room is all we have left. And they know we have it.”
