Chapter 4 - The Arrest
The blue and red lights flashing against the dashboard of Victor’s silver sedan painted his panicked face in violent hues.
He gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white, staring up into the rearview mirror where two state troopers stood with their hands resting casually on the holstered sidearms of their tactical belts.
"Step out of the vehicle, sir. Slowly, with your hands visible," the lead trooper’s voice crackled through the external loudspeaker.
Victor swallowed hard, sweat beading on his forehead despite the air conditioning running at full blast. He had checked the warehouse cameras remotely before heading to the airport. Vault 7’s interior thermal sensors had flatlined at -45℃ six hours ago. By all biological laws, Clara and the unborn twins should have been frozen solid long before midnight. The insurance claim should have been a slam dunk.
So why were the police already here? Who had unlocked the door?
He pushed the car door open and stepped out onto the damp asphalt of the interstate shoulder, raising his hands slowly into the air.
"Officer, there must be some mistake," Victor stammered, forcing a shaky, charming smile onto his face as the trooper approached him with a pair of steel handcuffs. "I'm a respectable corporate consultant—"
"Shut your mouth, Mr. Hayes," the trooper interrupted coldly, spinning Victor around and slamming him against the hood of his sedan. The metal clanged loudly under the impact. "You’re being placed under arrest for the attempted murder of Clara Hayes, aggravated kidnapping, and corporate embezzlement."
"No! That's absurd! My wife died in a tragic workplace accident—"
"Your wife is currently sitting in County General Hospital holding your newborn twins," the trooper snapped, the steel cuffs clicking sharply around Victor's wrists. "And she gave us a very detailed statement about your little trip to the warehouse last night."
Victor’s knees buckled. The color drained entirely from his face, leaving him a ghastly, ashen gray.
"Twins... she... she survived?" he whispered, the reality of his catastrophic failure crashing down upon him like an avalanche.
May you like
"Miraculously, yes," the trooper said, hauling him upright and shoving him toward the back of the patrol cruiser. "And your corporate partners at Meridian Pharmaceuticals have already filed a federal hold on your accounts. You’re going away for a very long time, Mr. Hayes."
As the cruiser door slammed shut with a heavy, final thud—a sound that eerily mirrored the closing of Vault 7’s steel door—Victor slumped into the back seat, realizing that his grand twenty-four-million-dollar scheme had culminated in total, absolute ruin.
