Chapter 35 - Interrogation of a Ghost
The hum of the server racks filled the cold, sterile air of the subterranean bunker as Daniel leaned forward across the steel interrogation table. The monitors behind him flickered with endless streams of decrypted offshore banking codes and encrypted communication logs.
"Let's talk about the shadow directors, Elena," Daniel said evenly, his eyes fixed on hers. "The ones buried inside the intelligence agencies who authorized the orbital strike on my son. Give me their names, and maybe you spend the rest of your life in a comfortable cell instead of a pine box."
Elena stared back at him with a hard, defiant glint in her eyes, slowly shaking her head. "You still don't get it, do you, Daniel? You think you're holding all the cards because you exposed the retail accounts. But the real power doesn't sit in bank accounts or server nodes. It sits in the hands of men whose names don't even exist on government registries."
Before Daniel could press further, Ethan’s voice cut sharply across the room from the main diagnostic console.
"Dad! We've got a massive data packet pinging our secondary subnet from an unregistered satellite relay!" Ethan called out, his fingers flying across the keyboard with frantic speed. "It's not a financial transfer... it's a broadcast signal. It's being routed directly to every intelligence bureau and black-site facility in North America."
Daniel stood up abruptly, turning away from Elena as he strode over to the central monitor. "What are they broadcasting?"
Lines of crimson text began populating the screen, bypassing their firewalls with terrifying efficiency. It wasn't just code—it was a pre-recorded video feed.
The screen flickered, revealing the austere, dimly lit office of a high-ranking government official sitting behind a massive mahogany desk, his face obscured by heavy shadows.
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"Mr. Carter," a synthesized, distorted voice echoed through the bunker's audio system. "You've proven to be a remarkably persistent ghost. But you cannot rewrite the rules of a game that was rigged before you were even born. Your little son's clever trick with the decoy drone bought you three months. It ends tonight."
Elena’s face drained of all remaining color as she stared at the screen. Even her composure cracked completely. "That's... that's impossible," she whispered, her voice trembling. "That channel was burned ten years ago."
