Chapter 14 - THE ORIGINAL OFFICE
They arrived in Manhattan before dawn.
Rebecca had chosen the original Bennett Cyber Defense office for a reason.
History.
Lisa had been twenty-six when she rented the narrow floor above an investment firm.
She built the company with four employees and borrowed furniture.
The building had since been renovated.
But the old server vault remained.
Rebecca had turned it into a courtroom of her own.
Marcus.
Evelyn.
James.
Ryan was brought under guard because Rebecca demanded him too.
Daniel remained beside Lisa.
Claire joined Captain Cole’s team.
Inside, Rebecca had installed cameras.
The feed streamed automatically to encrypted servers.
“She wants this recorded.”
Cole said.
Lisa shook her head.
“She wants an audience.”
They entered the office.
Rebecca stood at the far end beneath the old Bennett Cyber Defense logo.
Marcus sat bruised but alive.
James had blood on his shirt.
Evelyn was crying silently.
Rebecca looked almost peaceful.
“My family.”
Lisa stopped.
“No.”
Rebecca smiled.
“You can deny blood.”
“You cannot erase it.”
Lisa looked at Ryan.
His face tightened.
Rebecca continued.
“James wanted morality.”
“Marcus wanted status.”
“Thomas Morgan wanted power.”
“I wanted survival.”
“And all of you benefited.”
Lisa stepped forward.
“I was eight.”
Rebecca’s expression barely changed.
“You benefited from the money.”
“I built my own company.”
“With education your father’s Sentinel money helped finance.”
Lisa looked at James.
He lowered his eyes.
Another truth.
Rebecca enjoyed the silence.
“There are no innocent adults here.”
Daniel spoke.
“Lisa is.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You disappeared to protect her while letting her marry your brother.”
Daniel flinched.
Lisa turned toward him.
“You knew?”
Daniel’s face collapsed.
Not everything.
But enough.
He had learned Ryan might be Rebecca’s son two years before Lisa’s wedding.
He could not confirm it.
His handlers refused to let him contact Lisa.
He chose silence.
Again.
Lisa felt something inside her finally become still.
She had spent years surrounded by people who decided what truths she could handle.
No more.
Rebecca looked at Ryan.
“Come here.”
Ryan did not move.
“You are my son.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You made me marry my sister.”
“I made you enter her life.”
“You stayed.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Rebecca’s cruelty was precise.
She always made other people carry the final piece of guilt.
Then James spoke.
“Rebecca.”
She turned.
“This ends with us.”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
James continued.
“Not the children.”
“We built Sentinel.”
“Thomas, you, me, Marcus.”
“Leave them out.”
Marcus suddenly shouted.
“Do not put me beside you.”
Everyone stared.
Marcus struggled against the restraints.
“I served thirty-two years.”
“You used me.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You stole from widows.”
“You moved money through dead soldiers’ identities.”
“You accepted millions.”
Marcus stopped speaking.
His honor had always been costume.
The baton.
The medals.
The speeches.
All decoration around greed.
Rebecca raised a remote.
“Here is the cost of accountability.”
Screens across the room turned on.
They showed bank accounts.
Hundreds of millions remained accessible.
Rebecca had wired the network to a dead-man trigger.
If she released the button, the accounts would automatically transfer to criminal organizations connected to Sentinel.
Captain Cole could not simply shoot her.
Lisa studied the system.
Rebecca noticed.
“You cannot hack this.”
Lisa almost smiled.
“I know.”
Rebecca frowned.
Lisa looked toward Noah’s hidden remote connection.
“I don’t need to.”
The accounts began freezing one by one.
Rebecca stared at the screens.
Lisa explained.
“You built Sentinel around financial secrecy.”
“I built Orion around anomaly prediction.”
“I didn’t stop your transfers.”
“I told the banks what you were about to do.”
International financial institutions had already placed automated holds on the destination accounts.
Rebecca’s dead-man switch was useless.
For the first time, Rebecca lost control completely.
Then Marcus did something desperate.
He broke the wooden arm of his chair.
He lunged toward Rebecca.
May you like
A gunshot filled the room.
And Marcus Bennett fell.
