Chapter 12 - The Shattered Ledger
""He's lying, Mark,"" Elena said, not lowering her weapon by an inch. ""The Council doesn't make deals with skimmers. They used you as bait to draw us out into the open so they could retrieve the drive without making a mess on the city streets.""
Mark’s confident expression faltered, a flicker of frantic doubt crossing his bloodshot eyes. He glanced sideways at the two masked mercenaries flank him, but their weapons remained rigidly steady, pointed directly at Clara and Elena.
""She's lying!"" Mark screamed, turning his blade toward Elena. ""I built this empire! They need me to access the foreign accounts!""
""They don't need you,"" Clara said softly, reaching into her pocket. She slowly pulled out the black-and-silver flash drive, holding it up where the laser beams intersected its metal casing. ""Because the decryption key isn't stored in the drive. It’s tied to your biometric signature, isn't it? That’s why you brought your knife.""
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Mark's jaw dropped. The realization hit him like a physical blow. The Council didn't need him alive; they just needed his thumb and his ledger.
Before Mark could react, the mercenary on the left smoothly shifted his barrel from Elena toward the back of Mark’s head. In that fraction of a second, Clara hurled the flash drive into the murky, swirling drainage water below. ""Get it!"" Mark shrieked, lunging forward blindly into the black pool. Gunfire erupted into the enclosed tunnel, deafening and absolute.
