Chapter 18 - THE NINTH ACCOUNT
Sebastian fired first.
Julian vanished behind the blast door as bullets struck the frame.
Eleanor pressed both hands against Adrian’s wound.
The shot had missed his heart but torn through an artery.
Marcus dragged him toward the medical station.
The countdown showed fifty-one minutes.
Margaret led Sebastian and Valerie into the control chamber.
Nine columns of numbers moved across a curved wall.
Eight represented banks.
The ninth represented an account with no name.
Valerie recognized Daniel’s old numbering system.
“The ninth account is not money,” she said.
“It is evidence.”
Daniel had designed Project Meridian as a trap.
If Conrad activated the financial attack, the ninth channel would release the archive to every major newsroom and law enforcement agency in the world.
Conrad had spent fourteen years trying to remove it.
He needed Valerie’s biometric signature because Daniel had hidden the override in her original birth record.
A side door opened.
Conrad entered with Julian beside him.
Julian’s wounded shoulder hung stiffly.
Conrad looked at Sebastian with disappointment.
“You could have inherited everything.”
“I inherited enough.”
“You inherited weakness.”
Sebastian glanced at Valerie.
“No.”
“I inherited a choice.”
Conrad activated the chamber lockdown.
Steel restraints snapped around Valerie’s wrists and pulled her hands toward the biometric console.
Sebastian attacked Julian.
The brothers crashed into the glass wall while Margaret fought Conrad for the master control.
Valerie forced one wrist against the edge of the restraint until the skin tore.
Blood reached the scanner.
The system accepted her signature.
PROJECT MERIDIAN AUTHORIZED.
Conrad smiled.
Then the ninth column turned green.
ARCHIVE RELEASE INITIATED.
His smile disappeared.
Valerie looked at him through the pain.
“My father knew you would make me bleed.”
The release bar reached twelve percent.
May you like
Julian broke free from Sebastian and aimed his gun at the main server.
One bullet could still erase everything.
