Chapter 96 - The Warehouse of Shadows
Instead of looking into the lens, Naomi drew her knife and drove the tempered steel blade directly through the optical scanner of the ledger.
Sparks cascaded across the metal chassis. The digital display flickered erratically, the countdown stalling at twenty-eight seconds as internal circuit boards fused together in an electrical screech.
Nine-Bravo screamed in fury—an animalistic sound stripped of all conditioning. With a desperate surge of adrenaline, she kicked Naomi in the chest, breaking the chokehold, and dove over the side of the pier into the churning, oily black water of the Delaware basin.
The heavy splash was swallowed instantly by the roaring tempest.
Naomi ripped the smoking ledger from the crane's junction box. The device was damaged, but the data core was still intact, its emergency indicator blinking an amber warning: *SIGNAL REDIRECTED TO SECONDARY HUB: CARGO TERMINAL 4.*
A voice broke the silence behind her.
"Lower the weapon, maid."
Naomi turned slowly. Vanessa Sterling stood ten paces away, flanked by four contractors with assault rifles leveled directly at Naomi’s head. Vanessa’s hands were shaking inside her leather gloves, but her chin was raised with the haughty arrogance of a woman who had never known physical defeat until Naomi arrived at her mansion.
"You ruined everything," Vanessa whispered, her voice cracking against the wind. "My brother is gone. My father's name is dragged through the dirt. The Sterling fortune is being auctioned off in secret offshore markets. And you... you stand there looking like you belong in my scullery."
Naomi looked at Vanessa, completely unmoved by the rifle barrels pointed at her chest.
May you like
"Vanessa," Naomi said quietly, stepping forward. "Your father didn't build an empire. He built a cage. And right now, the doors to every cage in this country are opening. If you want your family name to mean anything by sunrise, you will tell your men to stand down and drive me to Terminal 4."
***
