Chapter 7 - The Trap Closes
Victor Sosa squinted through the blinding white glare, his teeth bared in a snarl of rage and shock.
"Moretti!" Victor spat out, raising his handgun toward the balcony. "You knew!"
"I've known since you crossed the state line three days ago," Murphy replied casually, taking a single step down the grand staircase. "You thought you bought a security breach on my eastern gate. You actually bought a guided tour into my kill zone."
"Shoot him!" Victor screamed to his men. "Kill him now!"
Several of Victor's operatives raised their automatic rifles to fire, but before a single trigger could be pulled, the heavy mahogany doors surrounding the foyer slammed shut simultaneously with the heavy, metallic clatter of automated steel blast shutters dropping into place.
Every window, every archway, and every exit was instantly sealed in solid, three-inch reinforced steel.
Simultaneously, from the shadows of the second-floor mezzanine, twenty of Murphy's top security operatives stepped forward, their heavy tactical rifles equipped with red laser sights trained directly on the chests and heads of Victor's eighteen men.
Eighteen bright red laser dots danced across Victor Sosa's chest and the foreheads of his team.
Victor’s men froze instantly, their hands trembling on their weapons. They were seasoned killers, but they were professional enough to know when they were completely outmatched. One wrong move meant eighteen dead bodies in less than two seconds.
"Drop your weapons," Dominic’s booming voice commanded from the mezzanine railing above. "Now."
One by one, Victor's men slowly lowered their rifles, letting them clatter uselessly onto the marble floor.
Victor stood alone in the center of the foyer, his handgun still shaking in his hand as he stared up at Murphy, his face red with humiliation and burning fury.
"You think you've won, Moretti?" Victor sneered, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "You have no idea what that woman has! She's a thief! She took something that belongs to my organization! If you protect her, my partners in Chicago will wipe your family off the map!"
Murphy walked slowly down the remaining stairs, stopping just ten feet away from Victor. He didn't look at Victor's gun. He looked directly into Victor's eyes.
"She didn't steal from you, Victor," Murphy said softly, his voice carrying a cold, terrifying weight. "She survived you."
"Give me the drive!" Victor demanded wildly. "Give me the drive and I'll walk away! I'll pay you ten million dollars right now! Name your price!"
Murphy tilted his head slightly, his scar catching the stark white floodlight.
"I don't take money from men who lock women in basements," Murphy said quietly.
He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers once.
From behind the blast shutters of the library entrance, the heavy steel door slid open, revealing three men in crisp, dark blue suits carrying heavy leather briefcases and federal badges around their necks.
Standing in the center was the Assistant Director of the United States Department of Justice, accompanied by the Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division.
Victor’s jaw dropped in absolute, unadulterated horror. "What... what is this?"
"Victor Sosa," the DOJ official announced loudly, holding up a federal warrant signed by a federal judge an hour earlier. "Thanks to digital records provided to our secure server thirty minutes ago, your entire financial network, your offshore holdings, and your political bribery channels have been fully exposed and seized by the United States government."
Victor’s gun slipped from his limp fingers, clattering onto the marble floor.
"You... you gave it to the feds?" Victor stammered, looking at Murphy in utter disbelief. "You're mob! You don't work with the feds!"
"I didn't work with them, Victor," Murphy said, a small, cold smile appearing on his lips. "I simply delivered a package. The federal government is dismantling your entire syndicate as we speak. Every politician you bought is being arrested tonight."
May you like
Murphy stepped closer, dropping his voice so only Victor could hear.
"You spent fourteen months hunting a helpless woman," Murphy whispered coldly. "Now, you will spend the rest of your natural life in a supermax prison, broke, nameless, and completely forgotten."
