Chapter 16 - The Stolen Cargo
The first blow landed subtly on a rainy Tuesday morning.
Marcus Vance rushed into my executive office, holding a priority dispatch tablet with an urgent red warning tag flashing across the screen.
"Elena, we have a major security breach in our humanitarian shipping division," Marcus reported grimly. "The entire container shipment of medical supplies and winter clothing funded by the Mercer Foundation for children's hospitals in Eastern Europe has been intercepted and diverted off course."
I looked up from my desk, my eyes narrowing instantly into cold, razor-sharp slits. "Diverted? By whom? Customs authorities?"
"No," Marcus replied, sliding the manifest across the desk. "Local port authorities in Rotterdam report that the shipping documents were authorized under a forged digital signature bearing my credentials—authorization levels that only executive directors possess."
I stood up slowly, walking over to the window as the rain lashed against the forty-fifth-floor glass. "Someone inside our own corporate network helped them. Someone with high-level clearance."
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"We've already initiated an internal audit of all system administrators," Marcus assured me. "But there's more. Look at the delivery destination listed on the forged manifest."
I looked down at the tablet. The cargo hadn't been lost or stolen for profit; it had been redirected to a private warehouse facility in Zurich, Switzerland, registered under an obscure shell company linked directly to Heinrich Voss.
