“You always did have a knack for finding trouble, Mike,” Jack said with a faint smirk. He looked at the USB drive in Sarah’s hand. “Is that it?” She nodded. “Yes.” Jack’s expression turned grim. “Then we have a problem.” Mike frowned. “What now?”
Jack met his eyes. “Silas isn’t the only one on that list. There are names on there that go all the way to the state capitol.” He pulled out a tablet and showed them a grainy photo of a man in an expensive suit shaking hands with Silas Sterling.
Mike and Sarah recognized him instantly—it was Senator Miller, a man who built his career on “law and order.” Sarah gasped. “He’s on the list,” she whispered. Jack nodded. “Silas is just the middleman. The people on this drive won’t just kill you, Sarah. They’ll erase you. They need to wipe every trace of this.”
Mike’s heart hammered. This wasn’t just a mob hit anymore; it was a political firestorm. Sarah was a target in a game much bigger than they’d imagined. “Alright,” Mike said, taking a deep breath. “What’s the play?” Jack looked at them both. “You have two choices.”
He looked at Sarah. “One: I get you a new identity, a new life in another country. You’ll be safe, but you’ll always be looking over your shoulder. Two: We go loud. We take this list and we dump it—every name, every transaction. We send it to the Feds, the press, and every watchdog group in the country. But once we hit ‘send,’ they’re going to come for us with everything they’ve got.”
Mike added grimly, “And they won’t miss.” Jack nodded. “No, they won’t. Но it’ll be the end of them, too.” A heavy silence fell over the warehouse. Sarah looked at the drive in her hand. All her life, she’d lived in her father’s shadow, but now she had the power to burn it down.
She took a deep breath and looked at Jack. “I’m done running,” she said firmly. “Let it burn.” Mike smiled. “That’s my girl.” Jack grinned and tapped his tablet. “Let’s start a fire they can’t put out.” The weight of her words hung in the air.
Mike felt the shift. She wasn’t a victim anymore; she was a witness. Jack’s fingers flew across the screen, setting up encrypted relays. “This is going to move fast,” he muttered. “Once we go live, they’ll know. We’ll have very little time.”
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