The Syndicate Tried Contesting My Grandfather's Land Trust—Until My Forensic Audit Seized Their Offshore Stables At Sunrise!
Chapter 5 - The Red Line in the Ledger
I walked over to the open door of the abandoned Lincoln.
The radio crackled, followed by the deep, frantic voice of Deputy Clark from the county detention center.
"High Valley command, this is Clark at Central Booking," the radio blared. "We have an emergency code red at the courthouse annex. Richard Sterling just suffered an acute medical event during processing."
Arthur leaned through the window, his eyes narrowing. "A medical event?"
"He collapsed in the holding cell," Clark’s voice continued over the wire. "Paramedics are on scene, but the transport team was ambushed at the intersection of Highway 4."
My spine stiffened. "Ambushed by who?"
"An unmarked black armored van," Clark shouted over rising siren wails in the background. "They breached the ambulance, took Richard Sterling, and sped north toward the private airstrip!"
Arthur and I exchanged a single, chilling look.
"The private airstrip in the north basin," Arthur whispered. "That's five miles from here."
Agent Miller ran up to the side of the vehicle, his hand on his service weapon, his radio already screaming with the same emergency dispatch.
"They're extracting him," Miller said, his jaw tightening into hard granite. "Richard wasn't working for himself. The money he moved through Nevis was part of a larger pipeline."
Miller pulled out his tablet, frantically tapping the screen to bring up the satellite radar over the county.
A single red transponder beacon was tracking across the screen, moving rapidly toward the foothills.
"We have an unlisted Gulfstream IV idling on runway three," Miller reported, his breath catching. "Flight plan logged thirty seconds ago for Geneva."
"Who owns the jet, Miller?" I demanded, gripping the doorframe.
Miller tapped the corporate registration key, and the color instantly drained from his weathered face.
"The registration is held by a blind Swiss trust," Miller breathed, his voice barely audible over the idling engine. "Under the name of Victor Montgomery."
