Chapter 18 - THE SHADOW OF THE SYNDICATE AND THE PRICE OF SILENCE
The warning call was just the beginning.
The following morning,
the foundation’s servers were hit by a massive cyberattack.
Decades of research,
patient records,
and financial data were encrypted with a ransomware virus that carried a single message:
PAY THE DEBT.
I sat in the IT command center,
watching the screens scroll through lines of red code.
The experts were shaking their heads,
their faces illuminated by the eerie glow of the monitors.
“It’s a military-grade encryption,”
the lead analyst said.
“We can’t break it without the key.”
“And if we don't pay?”
I asked.
“Then the data is wiped.”
“Permanently.”
I felt a wave of dizziness.
This was more than just a financial threat.
This was a threat to the lives of every patient we were treating.
The research for the pediatric oncology drugs,
the clinical trials for the low-cost insulin—it was all on those servers.
“How much are they asking for?”
Dominic asked,
his jaw tight.
“Fifty million,”
I said,
the number echoing the deficit we had discussed the day before.
“Exactly what Preston ‘borrowed’.”
Dominic walked to the corner,
his voice low as he made a series of calls to his contacts in the security world.
I walked out of the room,
needing air.
I went to the private balcony that overlooked the park.
The city was moving beneath me,
completely unaware of the battle being fought in the digital shadows.
I thought of the black leather journal.
I thought of my father’s warnings about the people Preston was dealing with.
“The patents he sold... they belong to people you don't want to meet.”
I realized then that Preston hadn't just been greedy.
He had been terrified.
He had gotten into bed with a global syndicate that moved money through the shadows of Eastern Europe.
And when he couldn't deliver the patents,
he had tried to burn the evidence.
But the syndicate didn't care about evidence.
They cared about their return on investment.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed the number that had called me the night before.
It rang three times before someone picked up.
“I’m listening,”
the rough voice said.
“The data on those servers is worthless to you,”
I said,
my voice steady despite the trembling in my hands.
“But it’s everything to the people we help.”
“I will pay the debt.”
“But not like this.”
“You want the fifty million?”
“Then you return the patents for the insulin.”
“The ones Preston sold to the Russian consortium.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
“You are in no position to negotiate,
Mrs. Hart.”
“I am the only person who can give you what you want,”
I replied.
“The accounts are frozen by the federal government.”
“I am the only one who can unfreeze them.”
“But I will only do it if the foundation is made whole.”
“Otherwise,
wipe the servers.”
“Kill the patients.”
“And watch as the FBI and the CIA track the money back to your doorstep.”
“I have nothing left to lose.”
“And a woman with nothing to lose is a very dangerous partner.”
The silence stretched on,
the tension so thick I could hear the wind whistling through the cables of the building.
“You have the spirit of your father,”
the voice finally said.
“He was a difficult man to kill.”
“We will consider your proposal.”
“But do not think for a second that you are safe.”
“The debt is not just money,
Evelyn.”
“It is respect.”
“And you have shown us none.”
The line went dead again.
I leaned against the railing,
my legs finally giving out.
I had just played a game of chicken with a ghost.
And I didn't know if I had won or just signed my own death warrant.
Dominic came out onto the balcony,
his face full of worry.
“What did you do,
Evie?”
“I made a deal with the devil,”
I said,
looking at the horizon.
“I’m bringing the patents home.”
“Or I’m going to die trying.”
Dominic walked over and took my hand,
his grip firm and warm.
“Then we’ll do it together,”
he said.
“But we need a plan.”
“And we need to get you and Conrad out of the city.”
“They know where we are,”
I said.
“There is no out.”
“There is only through.”
The shadow of the syndicate was over us,
a darkness that the trial hadn't been able to touch.
But as I looked at Dominic,
I knew I wasn't the same woman who had left New York in the middle of the night.
I was a queen in a war.
And I was going to protect my kingdom,
no matter the cost.
The drama of the trial was a memory.
May you like
The drama of the shadow war was just beginning.
And the price of silence was a debt I was finally ready to pay.
