PART 12: THE PRISON BREAKOUT
The digital countdown on my terminal continued its ruthless descent, ticking away the remaining hours of our fragile security.
But before the sun could even clear the Manhattan skyscrapers, a catastrophic alert shattered the state emergency broadcast network.
The maximum-security transport convoy carrying my ex-husband, Mark, to his federal penitentiary had been completely annihilated.
It happened inside a desolate mountain pass just thirty miles outside of Portland during a sudden, localized electronic blackout.
A highly coordinated tactical strike team utilizing electromagnetic pulse weapons had fried the armored vehicle’s main computer systems.
The guards had been neutralized with clinical, non-lethal precision, and Mark had been extracted from his iron cage in under ninety seconds.
The state police found nothing left at the scene except the smoking ruins of the transport and empty, cut steel handcuffs.
Mark was officially out in the world again, armed with the deep financial backing and high-tech resources of The Apex Group.
A suffocating wave of primitive fear tried to claw its way back into my chest, but I ruthlessly buried it beneath absolute anger.
He wasn't running away to hide in a foreign country; he was coming back to finish the experiment he had started on Sophie.
He wanted the final chemical synthesis logs, and he wanted the daughter he viewed as nothing but a scientific achievement.
My satellite phone illuminated once more, a completely unlisted international number flashing across the encrypted display screen.
I picked up the receiver, my fingers tightening around the casing until my knuckles turned a stark, bone-white color.
“Did you truly believe you could keep me locked in a cage, Selena?” Mark’s voice came through the static, cold and arrogant.
“You played your little Wall Street game, you arrested my corporate masters, and you thought you had won the war.”
“But you forgot that I am the only mind capable of finalizing Project Morpheus for the true global shareholders.”
“The Apex Group has granted me absolute immunity, unlimited tactical resources, and a clean slate to operate in the shadows.”
“I know exactly where you hid our beautiful daughter, Selena. No mountain sanctuary can withstand the force I am bringing.”
“I will give you one final opportunity to save your own life: deliver the master encryption drive to the Seattle docks tonight.”
“Refuse me, and I will ensure that Sophie is taken by force, and you are left to watch her transformation from a cell.”
I let out a low, dangerous laugh that echoed coldly through the empty penthouse study, shocking the cyber-analysts beside me.
“You still don't understand who I am, Mark,” I whispered into the receiver, my voice filled with a freezing, lethal finality.
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“I am no longer the quiet, patient wife you gaslit and poisoned inside that old Portland house six years ago.”
“I am a Vance, and I am going to use every single dollar, every satellite, and every weapon in our empire to hunt you down.”
