Chapter 140
Chapter 140
In the control hall of the Lighthouse base, the atmosphere was so heavy it was hard to breathe.
Jack stood in front of the holographic screen, watching the flickering data, his fists still clenched tight.
He knew very well that Ronan's threat was no joke.
Henry and hundreds of Fleur Corporation employees had now become bargaining chips in Ronan's hands.
Lucy stood beside him, fingers interlocked and gripped tightly together.
She looked at Henry on the screen doing his rounds at the company, her heart filled with guilt and anger.
"Jack, we can't wait for him to make his move." Lucy's voice was a bit hoarse, but her tone was firm. "If innocent people die because of my situation, I'll never sleep well again."
Jack turned to look at her. "I know. Ronan is forcing me to choose."
"He wants me to crawl back to him like a dog and beg, or watch people around me die one by one. But I won't give him what he wants."
Alex sat in a swivel chair nearby, chewing on a lollipop, his hands flying rapidly across the keyboard.
He sorted and organized the data from the USB drive. The big screen immediately displayed over a dozen red classified documents.
"Alright, you two, let's see what cards we're holding." Alex spat out the plastic stick from his lollipop and pointed at the screen. "Noah may be crazy, but he's really good at collecting intelligence. Here we have all of Ronan's financial records from recent years, plus records of him secretly using Foundation resources to build his 'War Dog' forces."
Lucy leaned in closer, carefully studying the complex financial statements.
As CEO of Fleur Corporation, she was extremely sensitive to numbers.
After just a few glances, her eyes lit up.
"This accounting doesn't add up." Lucy pointed at one line of data. "This shows Ronan secretly transferred 4.2 billion dollars from the Foundation's Ark Project. This money never went through the Foundation's board approval—it went straight into his personal offshore account."
Alex whistled. "4.2 billion? That's no small change. Those old folks at White Tower Foundation may be rich, but what they hate most is someone stealing their money. Ronan's digging into the Foundation's walls."
Jack laughed coldly. "Ronan has always wanted to break free from the Foundation's control. He wants to turn the War Dogs into his personal army. That 4.2 billion is his starting capital. If we leak this information, those in the Foundation who've had their eyes on him will tear him to pieces immediately."
"So this is our best bait." Lucy looked at Jack. "As soon as we release this data, Ronan won't be able to sit still. He'll have to completely destroy this data before the Foundation catches on, and kill the two of us who know about it."
Jack nodded. "Exactly. But how and when we release this bait requires careful planning. If we send it directly to the Foundation's board, Ronan might panic and go after Henry and the others right away. We need to give him an opportunity—one where he thinks he can take us all down at once."
"What do you have in mind?" Alex asked.
"Set the data to send on a timer." Jack looked at the Middle Eastern desert base on the holographic map. "We upload the data to an independent server and set a twenty-four-hour countdown. If I don't enter the unlock code within twenty-four hours, the data automatically gets sent to all White Tower Foundation board members and major media outlets worldwide."
"And the unlock terminal will be in that desert base."
Lucy thought for a moment. "That way, Ronan has to get to that base within twenty-four hours to get the password from you. He won't have time to deal with Henry or other Fleur Corporation people."
"Right." Jack said. "He'll concentrate all his forces on that base."
"But Henry's life is in danger right now." Lucy looked worriedly at the old security guard on the screen. "Ronan said he'd make his move in an hour. Even if we set the countdown now, it's too late to save him."
Jack turned to Alex.
"Alex, do you have people in New York you can use?"
Alex scratched his head awkwardly. "I do, but competing with professional 'War Dog' assassins for a target is pretty tough. And we'd have to move fast."
Jack spoke coldly:
"Stage a car accident. Have your people drive a heavy truck on Henry's route home and ram his car to a stop, then take him by force. Ronan's people are watching from the shadows. If they see Henry taken by unidentified people, they won't know what's going on and won't dare open fire easily."
Alex thought about it and slapped his thigh. "That could work. I'll arrange it right away. I've got some mercenaries in New York we do business with. Pay them and it's done."
He immediately started making calls, using complex code words to explain the mission.
Lucy looked at Jack, her feelings mixed.
This man's calm and decisiveness when facing danger left her deeply shaken.
He seemed to have no idea what fear was. Every decision was precise, striking right at the heart of the matter.
"Jack, if we lose this time..." Lucy said quietly.
"We won't lose." Jack cut her off. He looked at his hands. The wounds on his knuckles had stopped bleeding, leaving only scabs. "I've already lost once. That time, I lost all my brothers. This time, I won't let anyone die in front of me again."
His voice was soft, but Lucy could hear the heavy weight of strength in it.
Half an hour later, Alex hung up the phone and gave Jack a thumbs-up.
"New York's made their move." Alex said. "My people drove a garbage truck and flipped Henry's beat-up pickup at an intersection on his route home. They pulled him out of the car. He's got some minor injuries, but he's in our safe vehicle now, heading to a safe house."
The live surveillance feed switched to the big screen.
On a street in Queens, New York, a garbage truck sat at an angle at an intersection, next to an overturned pickup truck.
Several people in work clothes were lifting a bleeding old man into a van, then quickly drove off.
In the shadows across the street, a black sedan flashed its headlights, seeming to want to follow, but ultimately stayed put.
"Ronan's people are hesitating." Jack watched the footage. "They don't know if this was just an accident or if another force is involved. This buys us time."
"Now, let's send him the bait."
Jack walked to the control console and sent the encrypted file containing evidence of Ronan's embezzlement to Ronan's private email.
Attached were the coordinates of that Middle Eastern desert base and a twenty-four-hour countdown clock.
At the end of the email, Jack wrote just one sentence:
"I'm waiting for you where we started. Bring all your dogs."