She pulled a small black memory stick from her pocket and plugged it into the USB port.

“My men successfully copied the data from Camille’s device before we left the warehouse,” she said.

A progress bar appeared on the screen, slowly filling with blue light.

“If we merge the two keys, we will have full access to the encrypted ledger,” Adrian said.

“We can hand the entire network over to the federal authorities.”

“They won’t just arrest Salvatore,” I realized. “They will dismantle the entire empire.”

“That is the plan,” Adrian said.

The progress bar on the screen hit ninety percent.

The computer hummed louder, the internal fan spinning up to cool the processor.

“The encryption on Salvatore’s side is heavily guarded,” Isabella murmured, her eyes fixed on the screen.

“He has a kill-switch.”

“If he detects an unauthorized download, he will wipe the entire server in ten seconds.”

“Then we have to bypass the firewall manually,” Adrian said.

He sat down on a stool next to his mother, his fingers poised over a second keyboard.

The two of them worked in perfect, quiet synchronization.