Chapter 7 - The Ambush
The atmosphere in the dark library parking lot turned lethal in a fraction of a second. Marcus instinctively threw himself in front of Lily, shielding her with his body against the hood of their car, while Julian gripped the briefcase tightly to his chest.
"Collins!" Julian shouted, his voice echoing in the chilly night air. "You're a fool! The police already know we're here! You won't get away with this!"
"The police are forty minutes away, Mr. Vance," Collins sneered, stepping into the light of the headlights, a suppressed pistol in his hand. "Victor has deep pockets, even from a jail cell. If you leave the briefcase and the kid, you two might live to see tomorrow. If not, this becomes a tragic robbery gone wrong."
Marcus looked at his personal security guard, a former Special Forces operator named Briggs, who was already drawing his weapon from behind the car door.
"Don't do it, Briggs," Marcus whispered through his teeth, realizing they were outgunned. Four men with automatic weapons were staring them down. Marcus looked at Lily, who was paralyzed with fear, clutching his coat. He couldn't risk her life. Not now.
"Fine!" Marcus shouted, raising one hand while keeping the other around Lily. "Take the briefcase! Just let us go!"
"Marcus, no!" Julian protested.
"Julian, give it to them! It’s not worth our lives!" Marcus commanded, giving Julian a look that conveyed a deeper meaning.
Julian hesitated, then threw the heavy leather briefcase onto the asphalt. It skidded and landed at Collins' feet.
Collins smiled, gesturing for one of his men to pick it up. The man checked the contents, nodded, and closed it. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Kingston. It's a shame your wedding got ruined. Evelyn really was a beautiful bride."
Collins backed away, his men keeping their weapons trained on Marcus's group until they piled back into the SUVs. The engines roared, tires screeched, and the three vehicles sped away into the darkness, leaving a cloud of dust and exhaust.
Julian slammed his fist against the hood of the car. "Damn it, Marcus! That was our only copy! Everything Arthur died for, gone!"
Marcus stood up, calmly brushing the dust off his suit. He reached down and gently lifted Lily into his arms, kissing her forehead. "It's not gone, Julian."
Julian blinked. "What do you mean?"
Marcus pulled his smartphone from his pocket and tapped the screen. A live progress bar showed a 100% completed upload to a secure cloud server.
"The moment we opened that briefcase in the library, my portable scanner device in my pocket automatically synced to the USB drives via local Bluetooth pairing, and the library’s Wi-Fi did the rest," Marcus explained with a faint, sharp smile. "The physical files are gone, but the federal prosecutors received the digital copies five minutes ago. Collins didn't steal our evidence. He just stole a box of paper."
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Julian stared at him for a moment before bursting into a relieved, breathless laugh. "You brilliant bastard."
"Let’s go home," Marcus said, his eyes turning cold as he looked down the empty road. "The trap is sprung. It’s time to end this."
