Chapter 6 - The Trap
I stood in the center of my study for a long time, listening to the dial tone fade into silence.
A deal with Julian Vance was a death sentence. The moment we handed over the flash drive, we would become loose ends that needed tying up. They couldn't leave witnesses who knew the inner workings of Meridian Global.
I needed a counter-strategy. And I needed it fast.
I walked out of the study and found Sarah sitting up on the living room sofa, wrapped in a heavy fleece blanket, staring out the massive floor-to-ceiling windows at the glittering Chicago skyline.
“He called, didn't he?” she asked without turning around.
“Yeah,” I said, sitting down beside her. “He wants the drive tomorrow night in Miami. South Beach marina.”
Sarah turned her head, her dark eyes wide with alarm. “You can't go down there, Charles! It’s a slaughterhouse!”
“I’m not going down there alone,” I said firmly. “And I’m not bringing the real drive.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When you mailed that package to the PO box in Chicago, did you pick it up yet?”
Sarah shook her head. “No. The key is in my old storage locker in Evanston.”
“Then we don't need to fly to Miami to make the exchange,” I said, a dangerous plan crystallizing in my mind. “We use federal leverage. While I was in construction, I worked on structural contracts for the federal courthouse downtown. I know people in the U.S. Attorney’s office—people whose integrity can't be bought by shell companies.”
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Sarah stared at me, hope flickering for the first time behind her bruised eyes. “Can we trust them?”
“We have to,” I said, reaching for my phone. “Because if we don't bring Meridian down right here, in broad daylight under federal protection, they will hunt us down for the rest of our lives.”
