CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 45 — The Counter-Attack
The Treasury official’s face drained of color. "That is a treasonous accusation, Ms. Salgado."
"Elena, initiate the blind-route broadcast," Valeria commanded, completely ignoring the threat.
On the massive digital display screen behind the board table, a real-time global data map illuminated the room. It wasn't the data of the Iron Ledger. It was the internal, highly classified financial routing network of the US Treasury—a system Elena had breached using the deep-web backdoors discovered in Marcus Vance's private safe.
"Forty percent of the capital inside this Zurich account was directly funneled from private defense contractors in Virginia," Valeria stated, her words dropping like hammer blows. "If you execute that sovereign freeze, the entire transaction history of your department's black-ops funding over the last ten years will be mirrored across every major journalism server globally in exactly thirty seconds. I have already authorized the automated leak."
The federal marshals instinctively looked at each other, their hands twitching away from their holsters. The paradigm had shifted entirely. Valeria wasn't a victim begging for her life; she was holding a digital nuclear trigger that could collapse the careers of the most powerful elite in Washington.
Ofelia slammed her hand
against the table, standing up in a blind rage. "Are you cowards going to let a traumatized little girl dictate terms to you?! Arrest her!"
"Mrs. Moreno," the lead federal marshal muttered, stepping away from the table. "The operational parameters have collapsed. We are withdrawing immediately."
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"What?!" Ofelia shrieked, her heavily made-up face contorting into a mask of pure desperation.
"We cannot compromise national security databases over a civil asset retrieval," the Treasury lawyer said, frantically shoving his documents back into his briefcase. "Ms. Salgado... you won this hand. But you have officially placed your name at the very top of the global watchlist."
