Chapter 8 - THE FIRST PAYOFF

Victor ran for the door.

Voss didn't.

That told Alex everything.

Victor was frightened.

Voss was thinking.

Alex had learned long ago that thinking men were usually more dangerous.

“How?” Voss asked.

Alex slipped his phone into his pocket.

“Elise.”

Victor stopped.

“Elise?”

Alex nodded.

“She didn't just photograph your files.”

Voss's jaw tightened.

“She gave copies to federal investigators.”

That wasn't completely true.

Elise had only managed to contact one investigator before Meridian found her.

But Alex didn't need Voss knowing that.

The elevator lights changed.

Federal agents were coming up.

Victor looked toward Voss.

“What do we do?”

Voss calmly adjusted his cuff.

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“They don't have enough.”

Alex smiled.

“They have the transaction map.”

“No chain of custody.”

“They have the audit.”

“Corporate work product.”

“They have your internal instructions ordering my termination.”

Voss paused.

Alex finally saw it.

Fear.

Small.

But real.

That was the payoff Alex had been waiting for.

The doors opened.

Agents entered.

“Daniel Voss?”

Voss raised his hands slightly.

Victor began talking immediately.

“I had nothing to do with—”

“Shut up,” Voss said.

Victor did.

Agents separated them.

An investigator approached Alex.

“Mr. Carter?”

“Yes.”

“We need you to come with us.”

Alex nodded.

As he passed Voss, Voss spoke softly.

“You think you've won.”

Alex stopped.

“No.”

He looked at the handcuffs being placed around Victor's wrists.

“I think you finally lost something.”

Outside, reporters screamed questions.

Alex saw Maya across the street.

Noah beside her.

Both alive.

He almost smiled.

Then Maya's face changed.

She pointed upward.

Alex looked.

Forty-eight floors above them—

smoke began pouring from Meridian Tower.

An alarm screamed.

Employees flooded out.

Alex turned toward the federal investigator.

“What happened?”

The investigator lifted his radio.

Confusion erupted.

Someone shouted:

“Server fire!”

Maya ran toward Alex.

“No.”

“What?”

“They're destroying the data center.”

Alex looked up.

Voss was being placed inside an SUV.

He was smiling.

The evidence inside Meridian Tower was burning.

But Alex still had the dead man's switch.

He reached for his phone.

02:21:04.

Safe.

Then the timer disappeared.

The screen went black.

Alex pressed the power button.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Maya grabbed her laptop.

“The node.”

“What?”

“The old node just went offline.”

Alex stared at the smoke.

Voss had prepared for this.

Noah looked at Alex.

“Do you have another copy?”

Alex didn't answer.

Maya understood.

“Alex?”

For the first time all night—

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