Chapter 9 - The Digital Heist
The air inside the sawmill cabin smelled faintly of motor oil and stale coffee.
Marcus adjusted a series of high-powered monitors sitting on a wooden bench.
Lines of blue code scrolled rapidly across the screens.
Mark stood behind him, nursing his bandaged shoulder with a tight grimace.
Sarah sat near the window, keeping watch on the dark forest trail with a pair of night-vision binoculars.
"Arthur doesn't keep his real records on cloud servers," Marcus explained, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
"He’s paranoid."
"He keeps his black ledger on an isolated physical server inside his private office at the estate."
"How do we access a physical server from miles away?" Mark asked, frowning.
Marcus pointed a thick finger at a small blinking red icon on the central monitor.
"Because three years ago, I planted a hardware keylogger in his office during a routine maintenance raid."
"They never found it."
"It’s been quietly storing keystrokes and system logs on an encrypted local buffer ever since."
"I just needed a high-gain signal booster to pull the data from a distance."
"Can you download the files now?" Sarah asked, turning from the window.
"I’m pulling them right now," Marcus said, grinning grimly as a green progress bar filled up.
"Financial transactions, hidden offshore accounts, illegal pay-offs to city council members..."
"And here it is."
"The master security feed from the night of the incident."
Mark leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing sharply.
The monitor displayed the unedited high-definition footage from the dining room and the hallway.
It clearly showed Aunt Stephanie dragging four-year-old Lily into the bathroom by her hair.
It showed Arthur standing in the hallway, sipping whiskey and laughing as Lily screamed.
It captured the exact moment Stephanie held a lit cigarette against Lily’s small arm.
Mark’s fists clenched so hard his fingernails nearly broke the skin.
"They didn't just abuse her," Mark said, his voice trembling with terrifying rage.
"They enjoyed it."
"This footage completely destroys their legal narrative," Sarah said, her voice shaking with emotion.
"If this goes public, no amount of bribes can save them."
"The police chief won't be able to cover this up."
Marcus suddenly froze, his grin evaporating in an instant.
A sharp, high-pitched beep echoed from the corner of the monitor.
"What is that?" Mark asked, sensing the sudden shift in the room.
"It’s a trace," Marcus whispered, his face turning pale under the fluorescent light.
"They had a silent intrusion alarm on the server’s localized storage."
"Someone on their end just flagged our signal download."
"They know someone is pinging the internal network from this sector."
Marcus slammed his hand on the desk, shutting off the monitors instantly.
"Pack everything up!" Marcus shouted, grabbing his shotgun from the table.
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"They have our general area triangulation!"
"They’re coming!"
