Chapter 24 - The Global Broadcast
"Execute," I whispered, pressing the enter key.
The digital parasite I had injected into Croft’s intelligence servers detonated with spectacular precision. But it didn't destroy his files. It hijacked them.
Croft had staged thousands of fabricated deepfake videos, ready to be pushed to major news networks and social media platforms to trigger a manufactured political crisis. My parasite altered the root parameters of every single video.
Instead of broadcasting his fake whistleblowers, the AI instantly rendered and broadcasted Croft’s own digital footprint.
I funneled the raw, unedited metadata of his illegal domestic surveillance, his offshore bribery ledgers, and his explicit, documented plans to commit election fraud directly into the public, verifiable inboxes of the Department of Justice, the Pentagon, and every major investigative journalist on the planet.
In my living room, Croft’s secure satellite phone began to ring incessantly. He answered it, and I watched the color completely drain from his face.
"Sir, it’s a total breach," a panicked voice echoed through the phone, loud enough for the intercom to pick up. "The files are everywhere. The Attorney General just issued an emergency warrant for your arrest. The military police are en route to your location right now. We are burned!"
Croft dropped the phone. It shattered against the hardwood floor. His pristine, untouchable facade completely obliterated into sheer, unadulterated panic.
"Stop the torch!" Croft screamed at his agents, who immediately killed the flame, plunging the living room back into silence. "We have to leave! Now!"
"You aren't going anywhere, Harrison," I said through the intercom, my voice dripping with absolute mercy-free finality.
I hit another command on my terminal. The heavy steel shutters on the exterior windows of the estate violently slammed down, locking into place. The front doors magnetically sealed. I had turned my beautiful Japanese-style estate into a federal holding cell.
May you like
"You are going to sit in my living room and wait for the authorities," I commanded. "If you try to break the glass, the localized Halon gas system will deploy, and you will be unconscious in thirty seconds. Sit down, Director."
Croft stared at the impenetrable steel bulkhead, his chest heaving, realizing that his entire legacy, his freedom, and his empire had been completely, irrevocably erased by a woman standing in a kitchen. Defeated, he slowly sank onto my sofa, burying his face in his hands.
