The revelation hung over the dining table like a live grenade.
The triumphant atmosphere of the room vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, suffocating dread. Victoria and Sofia exchanged a sharp, worried glance. They were corporate titans, used to fighting wars in boardrooms and courtrooms. The prospect of facing down a cabal of defense contractors who utilized private hit squads was entirely outside their paradigm.
"Nia," I snapped, breaking the silence. "I need a full digital periter around this townhouse. Tap into the municipal traffic caras, the satellite feeds, everything. If a black SUV so much as idles on our street, I want to know about it."
"Already on it," Nia said, her fingers flying across her keyboard, her face pale but focused. "I’m routing the feeds through the Seychelles proxies to mask our location, but if Croft gave them this address, it’s only a matter of ti before they send a team."
"Darius," I said, turning to my muscle. "Arm up. I want the heavy ordinance out of the basent. We are officially operating under siege conditions."
Darius didn’t say a word. He just nodded, his eyes dark and lethal, and turned toward the basent door. He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. He knew n like Harrison Croft didn’t just walk away from a fight.
I looked back at Senator Hale. She was trembling, her hands gripping the edge of the table so tightly her knuckles were white.
"Who sits on this shadow board, Margaret?" I asked, my voice cold and demanding. "Give nas."
"I... I don’t know all of them," Hale stamred, her conditioning forcing her to answer truthfully. "The poker ga is highly compartntalized. I only dealt with the three primary stakeholders. The n who provided the seed capital for the slush fund."
"Nas," I repeated, the [Emperor’s Presence] bearing down on her.
"Richard Sterling," Hale said, her voice barely a whisper.
Victoria gasped, her head snapping toward the Senator. "My half brother? Richard is on the board?"
"He’s the old money," Hale confird, looking at Victoria with hollow eyes. "He represents the legacy donors. He was furious when you took over Vanguard Holdings, Victoria. He’s been using the Cabal’s resources to try and undermine your position for months now since you defeated him and he has a massive grudge against Mr Hart here."
Victoria’s eyes narrowed, the shock instantly replaced by a cold, calculating fury. "That son of a bitch."
"Who else?" I demanded.
"Commander Austin Vance," Hale continued. "Thomas Vance’s older brother. He’s a retired four-star, currently sitting on the board of Apex Munitions. He controls the private military contractors. He’s the one who provides the muscle."
"And the third?"
"Cassandra Locke," Hale said.
The na hit like a physical blow.
Elias Locke. The CEO of Locke Technologies. The woman who had built the original Artemis Core. The woman whose digital fortress I had infiltrated in Silicon Valley to steal the Singularity drive, the woman I had not fully conquered.
"Locke is the tech," I said, the pieces of the puzzle rapidly snapping into place. "She’s the one building the private AI network. She’s using the Cabal’s money to fund the project."
"Yes," Hale whispered. "She’s obsessed with it. She calls it the ’God Engine.’ When you stole the two billion dollars, you didn’t just rob them. You crippled Locke’s life’s work."
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling.
The scope of the war had just expanded exponentially. I wasn’t just fighting a corrupt politician anymore. I was fighting the military-industrial complex, old-money billionaires, and the most dangerous tech CEO on the planet. And they were being guided by Harrison Croft, a lethal ex-CIA operative who knew exactly how I operated.
"Jake," Sofia said, her voice tight with anxiety. "We can’t fight these people. They have unlimited resources. They have private armies. We need to take the money and disappear. We can run Vanguard and Aldridge from the Seychelles."
"If we run, we spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders," I said, lowering my gaze to look at the won sitting around the table. "Locke has the technology to track us anywhere on the globe. Vance has the contractors to kill us. And Sterling has the money to fund it all."
I stood up, placing my hands flat on the mahogany table.
"We don’t run," I said, my voice ringing with absolute, terrifying conviction. "We hold the high ground. We have two billion dollars in liquid capital. We have the Director of the SEC and a United States Senator under our absolute control. And we have the Oracle drive."
"You can’t plug the Oracle in, Jake," Nia warned, looking up from her screens. "You saw what happened in Silicon Valley. The AI is too powerful. It tried to map your mind. If you wake it up, it might consu you."
"I’m not going to wake it up," I said, a dark, predatory smile spreading across my face. "I’m going to weaponize it. Cassandra wants to build a God Engine? Fine. We’re going to show her what a real God looks like."
I looked at Ethan. "You’re going back to Capitol Hill. I want you to find out exactly where the Dupont Circle poker ga is held. I want the blueprints of the building, the security protocols, and the guest list."
"You’re going to hit the ga?" Ethan asked, his eyes wide.
"I’m not going to hit it," I said softly. "I’m going to buy a seat at the table."
I turned to Victoria and Sofia. "You two are going to use the clean capital to launch a massive, hostile takeover of Apex Munitions and Locke Technologies. I want you to bleed their stock dry. I want them fighting a war on Wall Street while I slit their throats in D.C."
I looked down at Senator Hale and Evelyn Cross.
"And you two," I said, my voice dropping to a dark, commanding register. "You are going to draft federal indictnts for treason against Richard Sterling, Commander Vance, and Elias Locke. You are going to build the legal cages I’m going to lock them in."
The room was silent, the sheer audacity of the plan washing over them. I wasn’t just planning to survive the Cabal. I was planning to devour them.
"The Capital Ga isn’t over," I said, my eyes burning with the crimson light of the System. "It’s just moving to the high-roller table."
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