Chapter 6 - The Ghost of Geneva
The video feed flickered with static before resolving into the interior of a dimly lit room with high, arched stone walls. Kenneth recognized the cellar immediately—it was the lower level of the lakeside estate in Geneva. Sitting in an antique wooden chair was an elderly woman with silver hair neatly tied back, wearing a simple woolen shawl. Despite her frail frame and the heavy zip-ties binding her wrists to the armrests, her posture remained straight, her gaze steady.
Standing behind her was a man dressed in a charcoal tactical sweater, his face obscured by a ballistic mask, a silenced pistol resting casually against his thigh.
""Margot..."" Kenneth whispered, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fist around the phone.
Margot Miller. His grandmother. The true visionary behind the Miller maritime empire, whom Arthur had declared mentally incompetent and committed to a private sanitarium three decades ago before Kenneth secretly broke her out and moved her to Switzerland.
A synthesized voice came through the phone’s tiny speaker, flat and devoid of human cadence. ""Good evening, Chairman Miller. Or do you prefer Kenneth? It has been a tedious game of cat and mouse, but you were predictable. You spent five years consolidating the family debts, believing you were setting a financial trap for your father.""
The camera panned slightly, showing two heavily armed mercenaries laying explosive charges around the foundation pillars of the cellar.
""Arthur was merely the bait,"" the synthesized voice continued. ""He played his role perfectly—greedy, arrogant, blind. He drew your attention and your resources to this pathetic banquet while our syndicate took control of the physical vault beneath Geneva. The bearer bonds your grandfather left behind are already aboard our aircraft.""
""If you harm a single hair on her head,"" Kenneth said, his voice dropping to a register so deep and venomous it silenced the entire side of the ballroom, ""there is no corner of this earth where you will sleep safely. I will burn your network to ash.""
The voice on the other end let out a cold, digitized chuckle. ""A noble sentiment from a broken grandson. But you don't even know who we are. You have forty minutes to transfer the Vanguard root decryption keys to the address on your screen. If the countdown reaches zero, the charges detonate, and Margot joins her late husband in the mud.""
The feed abruptly cut to a ticking digital timer: 00:39:59.
Arthur, still being held by the officers, chuckled weakly. ""You see, Kenneth? You were never the predator. You were always just the bait.""
Kenneth didn't hesitate. He thrust the phone into Vance’s hands. ""Vance, clear the room. Release my father.""
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Vance stared at him in disbelief. ""What? Kenneth, this man is a criminal! We have enough evidence to put him away for three lifetimes!""
Kenneth turned on Vance, his eyes blazing with an terrifying intensity that made the hardened prosecutor take a step back. ""Release him right now. He’s coming with me.""
