Chapter 17 - The Trial of Shadows
Lily looked at the armed men, then at the encrypted drive in her hand. She smiled—a cold, knowing smile that made Julian pause.
"You're too late, Julian," Lily said calmly.
Before Julian could pull the trigger, red emergency lights flashed throughout the vault complex, accompanied by the deafening wail of security alarms. The heavy steel vault doors began to automatically descend, designed to lock down during security breaches.
"What did you do?!" Julian roared, signaling his guards to move forward.
"My friend Sam hacked the facility's fire alarm system two minutes ago," Lily said. She grabbed heavy metal storage trays and jammed them directly beneath the descending steel vault door, creating a two-foot gap.
She dove beneath the closing door just as Julian fired a shot that ricocheted harmlessly off the reinforced wall. Lily scrambled to her feet on the outer side of the gate, while Julian and his henchmen were trapped inside the high-security vault system, automatically sealed until police arrived.
Lily sprinted out of the building into the pouring Manhattan rain, clutching the flash drive tightly. She immediately flagged down a taxi and headed straight to the Federal District Courthouse, where the emergency state tribunal was presiding over the Vance Enterprise asset freeze motion.
Inside the grand courtroom, Charles Sterling was standing before a panel of federal judges, smiling triumphantly as his attorneys presented the final papers to dissolve the Miller Trust.
"Your Honor, as Vice-Chairman, I request immediate authorization to absorb the disputed assets into Apex Global," Sterling urged smoothly.
"Objection!"
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The courtroom doors burst open. Lily walked down the center aisle, her hair soaked from the rain, holding the encrypted drive high in her hand. Behind her walked federal prosecutors and Federal Marshals, whom Sam had contacted using the audio evidence retrieved from the drive.
"That motion cannot be granted," Lily declared, her voice ringing clearly across the quiet courtroom. "Because Charles Sterling is not an executive protecting Vance Enterprise. He is a murderer, a thief, and the leader of the syndicate that framed my father."
