Chapter 6 - Shadows at the Dock
Eleanor didn't flinch, but her eyes narrowed into flint. "Speak, Marcus."
"It's Arthur," Marcus replied, his voice dropping into tactical precision. "He arrived with two private security vans. They've bypassed the loading dock bay four. They’re currently moving toward the server substation in the basement."
Sarah Jenkins snapped her folder shut. "He knows the emergency board vote is tomorrow morning. If he destroys the local server logs for the Boston district, we can't prove the invoice fraud before the Securities and Exchange Commission files the injunction."
Emma looked between the three adults, her heart racing again. "Invoice fraud? What's going on?"
Eleanor stood up, buttoning her jacket. "My brother-in-law hasn't just been mistreating staff, Emma. He’s been skimming millions off the wholesale supply contracts, creating phantom shell companies, and routing the losses onto individual store balance sheets. That's why your hours were cut. That's why the registers are falling apart and the store budget is strangled. He was cooking the books from the inside out."
"And he’s here to wipe the hard drives," Sarah added grimly. "If the local backup nodes are destroyed before the cloud sync at midnight, the audit trail is fractured."
"Not on my watch," Eleanor said. She looked at Emma. "Stay in this office, child. Lock the door from the inside."
"No," Emma blurted out before she could stop herself.
Eleanor paused, turning back with an eyebrow raised. "Excuse me?"
"You can't get to the basement substation through the freight elevator," Emma said quickly, her retail instincts kicking in. "Bradley jammed the manual safety lever on Bay Four two weeks ago because he didn't want to log after-hours vendor deliveries. If Arthur's men are down there, they don't have the master bypass key. It’s kept in the lockbox behind the inventory manager's desk."
Marcus checked his surveillance tablet. "She's right. The loading bay camera shows them trying to force the heavy hydraulic fire door with crowbars. They haven't breached the inner server room yet."
"How long until Boston PD can deploy additional units?" Eleanor asked.
"Ten minutes. The rain has traffic choked along Commonwealth Avenue," Marcus said.
"They'll have the server wrecked in five," Emma said, stepping toward them. "There's an emergency fire staircase behind the dairy cooler. It leads straight behind the server cage. But you need a maintenance badge to bypass the mag-lock."
She reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a worn copper key on a yellow coiled band. "Old Dave, the night janitor, gave me his spare when I helped him clean up the chemical spill last month. I can get you inside before they break that hydraulic door."
Eleanor stared at the young girl. For the first time that evening, an expression of genuine surprise crossed the older woman’s face, replaced immediately by fierce pride.
"Marcus, clear the hallway," Eleanor ordered. "Emma... lead the way."
They moved swiftly down the narrow back stairwell, bypassing the chaotic sales floor where customers were finally being escorted out by local officers. The air grew colder, smelling of damp concrete and industrial coolant as they descended toward the belly of the building.
The basement corridor was dimly lit by flickering fluorescent tubes. At the far end, the heavy rhythmic thud of a sledgehammer hitting reinforced steel echoed off the walls.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
"Hold," Marcus whispered, drawing a compact stun device from his coat pocket while signaling the two security guards behind him to fan out.
Through the grated window of the dairy hallway, Emma peered into the staging area.
Three men in dark tactical jackets were hammering away at the deadbolt of the primary data room. Standing behind them, holding an umbrella and an expensive Italian wool overcoat over his arm, was a man in his late fifties with slick silver hair, a manicured goatee, and a face that looked like an older, sharper version of Bradley.
Arthur Vance.
"Hurry it up, damn it!" Arthur hissed, checking his gold wristwatch. "The cloud sync initiates at twelve sharp! Smashing the drives after the upload starts is useless! I need those physical platters crushed now!"
"Almost through the secondary hinge, Mr. Vance!" one of the heavies grunted, swinging the hammer again.
"Arthur," Eleanor's voice sliced through the damp corridor like a butcher’s knife.
Arthur spun around, his umbrella slipping from his fingers and clattering against the concrete.
His eyes widened in shock as Eleanor stepped out of the shadows, flanked by Marcus and Emma.
May you like
"Eleanor?" Arthur’s voice cracked, his polished composure shattering into pieces. "What... how did you get down here?"
"Through the doors of the store you tried to bleed dry," Eleanor said, stepping forward without a shred of fear. "Put the hammer down, Arthur. It’s over."
