Chapter 30 - The Shadow Behind the Empire
The police cruiser sped away, its siren echoing off the snowy peaks, leaving an eerie quiet in its wake.
Daniel stood on the hospital steps, Vanessa’s parting words echoing inside his skull like a tolling bell.
*The board signed off on her execution three weeks ago.*
A sickening chill swept through Daniel’s veins, colder than the Colorado mountain wind.
He turned on his heel and rushed back through the hospital doors, practically sprinting down the sterile white hallways toward the intensive care unit.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, dialing his chief of security at the Van Allen headquarters in Manhattan.
"Marcus!" Daniel barked into the phone. "Pull the security logs from the executive boardroom for the last three weeks! Every meeting, every guest badge, every encrypted conference call!"
"Mr. Van Allen, something bizarre just happened," Marcus replied, his voice laced with urgent dread. "The entire internal server just went dark. Someone initiated a Level-Five protocol wipe from an authorized administrator terminal."
"Who has Level-Five access besides me and my mother?!" Daniel demanded, pushing through the double doors of the ICU.
"Only one person, sir," Marcus answered slowly. "Your uncle, Vice Chairman Arthur Van Allen."
Daniel’s blood froze in his veins.
Arthur. The quiet, unassuming brother who had managed the family’s offshore accounts for thirty years.
Daniel reached the ICU hallway and skidded to a dead halt.
The police officer assigned to guard Emily’s door was slumped sideways in his chair, unconscious, a small crimson puncture wound visible on the side of his neck.
"Officer!" Daniel shouted, running toward the slumped guard.
The room door was cracked open an inch.
Through the narrow gap, Daniel saw a tall man wearing a sterile doctor’s coat standing directly over Emily’s sleeping form.
The man was holding an unmarked glass syringe filled with clear, oily liquid, his thumb hovering right over the plunger.
May you like
The figure slowly turned his head toward the door, revealing the cold, smiling face of Arthur Van Allen.
Arthur raised a single gloved finger to his lips, silently gesturing for Daniel not to make a sound, as the tip of the needle hovered merely millimeters from Emily’s IV port.
