Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 24
The counterfeit core traveled inside a case identical to the original. Scarlett sat beside it while Dominion technicians monitored its internal temperature and false encryption. One flaw could expose the deception before Connor reached Summer. She focused on the plan rather than the fear waiting beyond the windshield. Every mile reduced the time available for correction. There was no room for another mistake.
Cypher coordinated from a hospital command station against medical orders. His shoulder was immobilized, but his mind remained the fastest path through Dominion’s original systems. While engineers completed Guardian, he traced the C-7 credential used at the safe residence. The code belonged to a level above any current security officer.
Old records showed that Dominion’s founders once shared C-7 for emergency continuity. Connor later separated those powers, believing the common account had been destroyed. Someone preserved a complete copy before the change. Voss’s hidden partner had been inside the company from its earliest days.
Police questioned Bennett using the evidence recovered from the airport search. He admitted Whitmore freight companies had supplied Voss with access to the abandoned airfield. Bennett claimed he expected only a technology exchange, not a child’s abduction. Fear of prison finally outweighed loyalty to his secret partner.
He revealed an underground fuel tunnel connecting the runway to a maintenance hangar. Voss knew the public plans omitted it, but Bennett’s family had used the route for smuggling equipment. Connor entered through that tunnel with a small rescue team. Every footstep carried him closer to Summer without alerting the guards above.
Scarlett reached the outer gate alone. Voss’s men searched her vehicle and removed every visible transmitter. They found no weapon, only the shielded case and the biometric device required to activate it. The communicator beneath her skin-colored bandage escaped notice.
Inside the holding room, Summer listened while Voss spoke to one of his engineers. He mentioned knowing Scarlett’s mother and called her death the unfortunate cost of stubbornness. Summer understood enough to ask whether he hurt her grandmother. Voss smiled instead of answering.
He told Summer that intelligent people died when they refused to share power. Her grandmother had hidden Aegis, forcing others to correct the problem. The child memorized his words because Mommy needed to know. Fear became a place to store evidence.
Connor reached the tunnel junction beneath the hangar. Thermal sensors showed three guards around Summer and another device attached to her body. Its signal matched an explosive trigger linked to Voss’s heartbeat monitor. Killing him too early would detonate the charge.
Connor informed Scarlett through the concealed channel. She could not react visibly while guards led her toward the runway. Their plan now required Voss alive until Connor disarmed the device. Scarlett slowed her steps, pretending the heavy case exhausted her. The performance bought Connor several additional seconds.
Voss waited beneath portable floodlights with Summer beside him. A vest circled the child’s small body, wires visible across the front. Scarlett’s instinct screamed to run toward her, but a guard raised his weapon. She forced herself to stop at the marked line.
Summer called for her mother. Scarlett promised everything would be all right, though she could not yet see how. Voss demanded the case and Connor’s master authorization device. Scarlett placed both on the verification table without crossing the boundary.
His engineer examined the counterfeit core. Authentic code fragments passed the first inspection, but Guardian concealed the trap behind legitimate architecture. Voss remained suspicious. He demanded that Scarlett unlock it personally.
Scarlett argued that full activation required a secure laboratory. Voss responded by resting a handgun against Summer’s shoulder. One refusal would end the negotiation. Scarlett stepped toward the biometric scanner.
Below them, Connor reached the holding-room access point and discovered it empty. The thermal signal confirmed Summer had been moved to the runway. He changed direction through a drainage passage, but the detour cost several minutes. Scarlett would have to extend the verification.
She placed her hand on the scanner and deliberately failed the first reading. Voss accused her of sabotage. Scarlett blamed the cold and demanded water to warm her fingers. Every second allowed Connor to approach the detonator’s relay.
Cypher saw the false failure from his remote station and understood her purpose. He adjusted Guardian to delay its final handshake. The counterfeit could survive a deeper inspection without activating too soon. His monitor simultaneously flagged another use of C-7 inside Dominion headquarters.
Someone was watching the exchange through a private company channel. Cypher tried to identify the terminal, but the observer erased the route. Before disappearing, it downloaded the authentic Aegis vault location. Voss’s partner was using the kidnapping to reach the real prize. Cypher quietly placed the vault under independent lockdown.
Scarlett completed the second fingerprint scan. The device requested retinal confirmation, drawing her closer to the table and farther from Summer. Connor reached the underside of the runway and located the explosive receiver. One wrong wire would trigger the vest.
Voss pressed the gun against Summer’s head and warned there would be no third delay. Scarlett leaned toward the retinal scanner as the counterfeit core began to glow. Beneath the concrete, Connor opened the receiver casing and discovered a final complication: the bomb could be disarmed only while Voss believed Aegis had successfully activated. Their entire rescue now depended on Scarlett making the lie convincing.
