Leila Rahmani sat in the rented apartment in Asilah, her fingers hovering over the 'Enter' key.
The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of three laptops and a large monitor. She had rigged a hardline connection to bypass the local internet shutdown that Karim had ordered.
Her hands were shaking. This was it. The point of no return.
If she uploaded this, she was signing her own death warrant. Karim would hunt her to the ends of the earth. But if she didn't, Adam died for nothing. Youssef died for nothing.
"Come on," she whispered. "Do it."
She pressed the key.
The progress bar appeared. Uploading to Secure Cloud... Broadcasting to International Press... Mirroring to Dark Web Nodes.
30%... 40%...
Suddenly, her screen flickered. A warning message popped up. INTRUSION DETECTED. FIREWALL BREACH.
"They found me," she breathed.
She wasn't safe here. She grabbed the hard drive and her laptop, shoving them into her bag. She needed to get out. She needed to get to the port.
In the Royal Atlas war room, the atmosphere was frantic.
Phones were ringing off the hook. Aides were running back and forth with tablets, their faces pale.
"Sir, the upload is happening!" a tech analyst screamed. "We can't stop it! It's on the BBC, Al Jazeera, The New York Times!"
Karim Haddad stood by the window, looking out at the city. He didn't turn around. "Shut down the power grid. Cut the undersea cables."
"It's too late, sir! The files are out."
Karim turned slowly. His face was calm. Too calm. "Show me."
The analyst tapped a key. The main monitor displayed the Ledger. But not just the financial records. It showed the photos. The shipping manifests for human cargo. The bribes to the Governor. And the video confession Youssef had recorded, explaining his role and naming Karim as the mastermind.
The room went dead silent. Everyone looked at Karim. They saw him not as a boss, but as a corpse.
Karim walked to the monitor. He watched his own empire disintegrate pixel by pixel.
"Vargo," he said softly.
Vargo stepped out of the shadows. "Yes."
"The boy has won the war of information," Karim said, his voice devoid of emotion. "But he has lost the battle of survival. Now, it doesn't matter what people know. It only matters who is left standing."
Karim picked up a phone. "Contact the Wagner group contact. The mercenaries. Tell them I authorize the 'Scorched Earth' protocol. I don't care about the city. I don't care about collateral damage. Level the docks if you have to. Just bring me his head."
"And the journalist?" Vargo asked.
"Kill her too. And burn the safe house."
In Asilah, Leila heard the tires screech outside her window. She looked down to see a black van stopping at the curb. Men in tactical gear were spilling out.
She grabbed her bag and ran to the fire escape. She was halfway down the ladder when the window above her shattered. Bullets sparked against the metal railing.
She dropped the last ten feet, rolling on the pavement, and sprinted toward the beach. She had a car parked near the marina. She had to get to Tangier. She had to find Adam.