Chapter 19 - WHAT THE CITY HEARD
Adrian appeared in the doorway before Julian fired.
His shirt was dark with blood.
He shot the weapon from Julian’s hand and collapsed.
Sebastian caught his brother before he hit the floor.
“Do not make this sentimental,” Adrian whispered.
“You would hate that.”
“I already do.”
The archive release climbed past fifty percent.
Conrad seized Valerie and held a blade to her throat.
“Stop the transmission.”
Sebastian looked at Margaret.
She shook her head.
Stopping it would require Valerie’s death.
Conrad pressed the blade harder.
A line of blood appeared beneath Valerie’s jaw.
Sebastian lowered his gun.
Conrad smiled.
“You always choose the person.”
“Yes.”
Sebastian dropped the weapon.
“But you always choose the empire.”
He stepped forward.
“That is why you never notice the people inside it.”
Marcus emerged from the service passage and struck Conrad from behind.
Valerie twisted free.
Margaret locked Conrad’s wrists to the biometric restraint.
The archive reached one hundred percent.
Every screen in the chamber changed.
News organizations around the world began publishing Conrad’s records.
Federal warrants appeared within minutes.
Markets fell, but the ninth account released emergency credit instructions that prevented the targeted banks from collapsing.
Daniel Voss had not designed a weapon.
He had designed a confession with a safety net.
Julian sat against the wall, bleeding and laughing.
“You think this ends because the world knows?”
Sebastian looked at him.
“It begins because the world knows.”
Police entered the chamber.
Conrad was taken away without dignity.
Julian was placed in restraints.
Adrian was rushed to surgery.
At dawn, Sebastian and Valerie returned to the penthouse.
The storm had finally passed.
On the kitchen counter waited two black porcelain cups.
Valerie touched one.
“I never drank the first coffee.”
Sebastian began making another.
His phone rang.
May you like
The caller ID displayed his own number.
When he answered, Julian’s voice whispered, “You arrested the wrong brother.”
