Chapter 91: The Trojan Horse

 

Washington D.C. J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI Headquarters). 10:00 AM.

The receptionist at the FBI front desk was bored. She was scrolling through I*******m, looking at memes about Alexander Hale's meltdown at the Met Gala. A man walked up to the bulletproof glass. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses. He placed his hands on the counter. They were empty.

"Can I help you, sir?" she asked without looking up.

"I'd like to report a crime," the man said.

"Fill out form 2B over there."

"The crime involves national security," the man continued calmly. "And the perpetrator is General Thomas Ryker."

The receptionist looked up. "Sir, making false statements to a federal agent is a felony."

The man took off his sunglasses. He looked directly into the security camera. "My name is Sebastian Sterling. I am a fugitive. And I want to surrender."

[ ALERT: FACE RECOGNITION MATCH - 99.9% ] [ PRIORITY: RED. ]

Within ten seconds, the lobby was swarming. Agents with assault rifles surrounded him. "Get on the ground! Now!"

Sebastian raised his hands slowly. He knelt. He didn't look scared. He looked like a man who was right on schedule.

---

[The Intercept]

Two Hours Later. Interrogation Room B.

Sebastian was handcuffed to a steel table. An FBI agent was pacing nervously. "We have him," the agent whispered into his phone. "Yes, the real Sterling. He wants to talk about the Syndicate."

Suddenly, the door burst open. Four men in black tactical gear entered. No badges. Just American flag patches. Behind them walked General Ryker. He was a mountain of a man, with a buzz cut and eyes like cold steel.

"General?" The FBI agent stammered. "This is a Bureau investigation."

"Not anymore, son," Ryker threw a piece of paper on the table. [ ORDER 66-ALPHA: TRANSFER OF CUSTODY. NATIONAL SECURITY ACT. ] "Mr. Sterling is an enemy combatant. He possesses biological weapons knowledge. He belongs to the DoD now."

Ryker looked at Sebastian. He smiled. A shark smelling blood. "Hello, Sebastian. It's been a long time."

Sebastian didn't smile. "You're looking old, Ryker. The pension isn't enough?"

"Bag him," Ryker ordered.

The soldiers threw a black hood over Sebastian’s head. They dragged him out the back exit into an unmarked van. The FBI agents watched helplessly. The Trojan Horse was inside the walls.

---

[The Belly of the Beast]

Undisclosed Location. Northern Virginia. A Private Military "Black Site". 4:00 PM.

The hood was ripped off. Sebastian blinked against the harsh fluorescent lights. He was strapped to a medical chair. IV lines were hooked into his arms. Ryker stood over him, holding a syringe of clear liquid. Sodium Pentothal (Truth Serum).

"You are a smart man, Sterling," Ryker tapped the syringe. "Surrendering to the FBI? You knew I would intercept you. You wanted a meeting."

"I wanted to see where you hide," Sebastian looked around the room. Concrete walls. Soundproofing. "Off the books. Illegal. If the press finds out you're running a torture dungeon on US soil, your stars will be ripped off your shoulders."

"The press?" Ryker laughed. "I am the defense of this nation. The Syndicate ensures order. You create chaos." He injected the serum into Sebastian’s IV. "Now. Tell me. Where is the Source? Where is the List?"

Sebastian felt the drug hit his system. His head swam. His tongue felt heavy. But he had prepared for this. Before he surrendered, Dr. Braun had given him a blocker—a cocktail of stimulants to delay the truth serum's effects for exactly 15 minutes.

"The List..." Sebastian slurred his words intentionally. "It's... in the cloud..."

"Which server?" Ryker leaned in close.

"The one..." Sebastian’s eyes focused. "The one connected to this chair."

---

[The Virus]

Ryker frowned. "What?"

"Check his vitals!" Ryker barked at the technician behind the glass.

The technician looked at the bio-monitor screen. [ HEART RATE: 180 BPM ] [ BLOOD PRESSURE: CRITICAL ] [ DATA UPLOAD: 25%... 40%... ]

"Sir!" The technician panicked. "His heart rate isn't just beating. It's... transmitting!"

Before surrender, Harper had implanted a Subdermal Transmitter under Sebastian’s skin, right next to his radial artery. It wasn't broadcasting audio. It was broadcasting a digital signal synced to his pulse. When Ryker hooked him up to the facility's networked medical system, the transmitter started uploading a worm.

"Cut the connection!" Ryker screamed.

Too late. [ SYSTEM LOCKDOWN INITIATED. ] [ SECURITY DOORS: OPEN. ] [ CAMERAS: LOOPING. ]

The lights in the facility turned red. The electronic locks on Sebastian’s restraints clicked open.

Sebastian ripped the IVs out of his arm. Blood splattered on Ryker’s uniform. "You wanted to know where the List is?" Sebastian stood up, swaying slightly from the drug. "I am the List."

---

[The Siege]

Outside the facility. A forest clearing. Jack lowered his binoculars. "Doors are open. The crazy bastard did it."

Harper sat in the van, typing furiously on her laptop. "I'm in their system," she said. "I've disabled the perimeter fence. Jack, you have 5 minutes before their backup generator resets the locks."

"Five minutes is plenty," Jack racked his shotgun. He didn't sneak. He drove the van through the front gate. CRASH.

The PMCs (Private Military Contractors) rushed out. "Intruder!"

Jack kicked the door open. BOOM. BOOM. Rubber bullets. (Sebastian’s rule: No killing US soldiers, even corrupt ones. It looks bad in court). But rubber bullets at close range still broke ribs.

"Clear!" Jack shouted, moving toward the interrogation block.

---

[The General's Fall]

Inside the interrogation room. Ryker pulled his sidearm. A .45 caliber pistol. "You think you've won?" Ryker aimed at Sebastian’s chest. "I can still kill you and claim self-defense."

Sebastian raised his hands. "You could. But then you wouldn't hear the notification on your phone."

PING. Ryker’s phone buzzed on the table. Then the technician’s phone. Then the guards' phones.

Ryker glanced at the screen. [ ALERT: PENTAGON INTERNAL AFFAIRS. ] [ SUBJECT: GENERAL THOMAS RYKER. ] [ STATUS: UNAUTHORIZED BLACK SITE DETECTED. IMMEDIATE ARREST WARRANT ISSUED. ]

"What did you do?" Ryker went pale.

"The worm didn't just unlock the doors," Sebastian explained calmly, wiping blood from his arm. "It downloaded your entire hard drive. Every illegal order. Every Syndicate payment. Every assassination." "And it auto-forwarded it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And the Washington Post."

"You... traitor!" Ryker squeezed the trigger.

CLICK. Nothing happened.

Sebastian held up a small metal pin. "You were so busy listening to me, you didn't feel me strip the firing pin from your gun when you leaned in." (Sleight of hand. A magician's trick he learned from an old thief in Berlin).

Ryker stared at his useless weapon. Then he heard sirens. Real ones. Military Police.

Jack kicked the door open. "Uber's here," Jack grinned. "Five stars?"

"Let's go," Sebastian grabbed Ryker’s collar and threw him into the chair he had just vacated. He handcuffed the General to the table.

"Enjoy the interrogation, General," Sebastian whispered. "I hear the food is terrible."

---

[The Aftermath]

A Motel Room. Maryland. Midnight.

They watched the news. "General Ryker arrested... Huge scandal at the Pentagon... Evidence of a shadow organization..."

Sebastian sat on the bed, icing his arm. The adrenaline had worn off, and he was exhausted. Target #2: Neutralized.

"Two down," Harper crossed Ryker’s name off the list in the Bible. "Three to go."

"The next one is harder," Sebastian looked at the list. Baroness Von Stroheim. Zurich. "Banks don't have firing pins to steal," Jack noted. "And Swiss vaults don't open for worms."

"No," Sebastian agreed. "The Baroness controls the money. If we want to hurt her..." "We have to bankrupt the Syndicate."

"How?"

Sebastian smiled. He picked up a secure phone. "I know a guy." "A hacker who makes me look like a novice." "He's currently in a Japanese cyber-prison. But I think he owes me a favor."

Target #3 isn't just a person. It's the Algorithm.

(End of Chapter 91)