Chapter 15 - The Final Echo
Conan straightened, his military instincts kicking back in within a fraction of a second. ""Sarah? What happened? Is Victoria trying to appeal the injunction?""
""Victoria Vance is dead,"" Sarah said, the words falling like lead weights through the wire.
Conan froze, his hand tightening around the receiver. ""What?""
""It happened twenty minutes ago during her transport to the federal detention facility in Walpole,"" Sarah explained, her breath coming in quick, shallow bursts. ""Her transport van was ambushed on Route 109. But Conan... it wasn't an escape attempt.""
""What do you mean?""
""The attackers didn't pull her out,"" Sarah said grimly. ""They blew the transport van apart with high-grade military explosives. Victoria and three marshals were killed instantly. The attackers vanished into the treeline before the first responders could arrive.""
Elena walked into the hallway, sensing the sudden shift in Conan’s posture. She looked at him with wide, anxious eyes, holding Leo close to her chest.
""Why would someone assassinate Victoria?"" Conan demanded, his voice low and dangerous. ""She was already ruined. She had lost the company, the trust, and the money.""
""Because Victoria wasn't the top of the chain,"" Sarah replied, the horror creeping into her voice. ""The forensic accountants found a series of offshore shadow accounts that Julian had marked in red on the drive. Accounts Victoria was terrified of touching. She wasn't stealing Vance Shipping for herself, Conan. She was laundering billions for the Valenti syndicate—the private maritime cartel that controls the eastern seaboard docks.""
Conan closed his eyes as the true scope of the nightmare clicked into place. Gabriel hadn't just uncovered domestic corporate greed. He had uncovered a global syndicate using Vance cargo ships as cover for massive illicit operations. And Julian had tried to destroy the entire enterprise by transferring the shipping lines to Leo.
""With Victoria dead,"" Conan said, his voice dropping into an icy, lethal calm, ""the cartel will want to reclaim control of the shipping ports.""
""And the only person who holds the legal deed to every ship, every dock, and every warehouse in this hemisphere..."" Sarah whispered, ""...is Leo Vance.""
Conan heard a distant, low rumble of a heavy engine echoing from the winding mountain road at the bottom of the long driveway.
He didn't panic. He slowly lowered the phone back onto its cradle.
""Conan?"" Elena asked, her voice trembling as she saw the dark, absolute resolve taking over his features. ""What is it? What did she say?""
Conan walked over to the wooden cabinet beneath the stairs, unlocked the hidden steel vault behind the coats, and pulled out his tactical combat vest and two high-capacity magazines. He checked the slide of his sidearm, the sharp metallic click echoing through the warm house.
May you like
He turned to Elena, his face set in stone, but his eyes burning with an unbreakable promise.
""Pack Leo’s essentials,"" Conan said quietly, his voice steady as a mountain. ""The war isn't over, Elena. But this time... they're coming to my house. And none of them are walking back down that hill."""
