Chapter 14
While Brooke played a lethal game of cat-and-mouse in the iron foundry, twenty miles away, the Vances' primary intelligence hub was systematically dismantling Garrett Hale’s entire corporate infrastructure.
Marcus Vance sat at the head of a massive, circular mahogany table in the underground bunker beneath the estate. Three forensic accountants and two elite cyber-warfare specialists were working frantically across a wall of glowing monitors, their fingers flying over keyboards in a blur of motion.
"We have penetrated the primary routing servers of Hale Enterprises, Mr. Vance," the lead cyber-specialist announced, spinning his screen around to show a cascading waterfall of green code. "We are currently executing a master script that transfers all unencumbered assets, subsidiary holdings, and intellectual property rights directly into an un-traceable blind trust controlled by Ms. Vance."
"And the offshore accounts in the Caymans?" Marcus asked, his voice a low, gravelly rasp as he lit a fresh cigar.
"Frozen by international banking protocols, sir," the specialist replied, tapping a key. "We triggered an automatic compliance flag using the forensic data from the hard drives Cole recovered before his vehicle was ambushed. The Swiss and Cayman authorities have locked every single ledger associated with Garrett's name."
Marcus took a slow drag of his cigar, watching the ash glow a dull, dangerous red. "What about the Romanov connection? How deep does Garrett's debt to them go?"
"Very deep, sir. He didn't just sell corporate shares; he leveraged Mercer Manufacturing's physical supply chain as collateral for a thirty-million-dollar cash advance to cover his margin calls last quarter. If the Romanovs foreclose on that collateral, they take over the physical factories."
"Not if the factories don't exist in the legal registry," Marcus said coldly, leaning forward. "Execute Protocol Zero."
The specialist blinked, turning pale. "Protocol Zero, Mr. Vance? That... that dissolves the parent corporation entirely. It triggers an immediate Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation of Mercer Manufacturing. Thousands of jobs, billions in valuation—gone in an instant."
"A dead asset has no value to a syndicate," Marcus stated, his eyes narrowing into cold slits of obsidian. "If the Romanovs want Mercer Manufacturing, let them try to collect dust and bankrupt legal liabilities. Do it now."
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"Executing Protocol Zero," the specialist whispered, pressing the master enter key.
Across the city, in a secure underground bunker used by the Romanov cartel, a massive server bank began to beep frantically before going entirely dark. A senior Romanov commander stared at his monitors in mute horror as forty billion dollars in leveraged assets vanished into a digital black hole, leaving behind nothing but an automated legal notice from the United States Federal Bankruptcy Court. Garrett Hale had just been wiped out of existence by his own father-in-law.
