Chapter 42 - The Geneva Transcript
I set my coffee mug down on the glass-topped dining table and opened my laptop. The screen glowed softly as I bypassed the local router and logged into the secure terminal we’d set up during the tribunal proceedings.
There was a single unread file waiting in the inbox, encrypted with standard Geneva Tribunal credentials. I clicked it open.
It wasn't a threat, and it wasn't a mission brief. It was an official transcript of the closed-door proceedings involving the final asset liquidation of the Vanguard syndicate.
According to the document, Julian Vance’s legal team had formally attempted to strike a last-minute plea deal by offering up the names of three sitting European finance ministers who had laundered syndicate funds through Swiss holding accounts. The tribunal had rejected the deal outright, citing overwhelming evidence provided by our raid on Project Ironwood.
More importantly, a footnote near the bottom of page four caught my eye:
Note: Following the total decommissioning of the Aegis Protocol core at the Ironwood facility, secondary automated proxy nodes in Zurich, Frankfurt, and Singapore have experienced catastrophic cascade failures. The syndicate’s financial infrastructure is completely unrecoverable.
“They’re gutted,” I said aloud, scrolling down to the list of frozen assets now under international trusteeship.
Ethan walked over, wiping his hands on a dish towel, and looked down at the screen. “A clean break. No hidden backups, no offshore sleeper cells. The entire architecture we fought to dismantle is officially dead code.”
“Except for one thing,” I added, pointing to a small, encrypted attachment at the very bottom of the document labeled Attachment_7B: Recovered Personnel Manifest.
I clicked the file. A list of names scrolled across the screen—mid-level operatives, financial auditors, and logistics coordinators who had worked under Julian Vance across North America and Europe. Most of them were already in custody or cooperating with federal prosecutors.
One name near the bottom, however, was highlighted in amber.
Special Agent Marcus Vance.
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I stared at the screen, a cold prickle of familiarity running down my spine. “David Vance mentioned his younger brother during our drop at Lake Tahoe. He said Marcus went dark three years ago after refusing to participate in the Vanguard corporate buyouts.”
“And according to this manifest,” Ethan said, leaning in closer, his brow furrowing, “he didn't go dark to hide. He went underground to build an independent counter-intel cell inside the syndicate's European logistics wing.”
