The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 55

The moment the name and location of the witness solidified on the screen, the atmosphere in the command center shifted from one of intense investigation to one of high-stakes urgency.

"I'll dispatch my team immediately," Kaelen said, his voice sharp and decisive. He was already typing on his own terminal, issuing orders. "Grey Guard is the best private security force in the world. They're composed entirely of ex-special forces operators. They can have a team on a jet and in the air within the hour. They will be discreet. They will extract the witness and bring her to a secure location."

Chase nodded in agreement, his protective instincts on high alert. "Do it. I want her surrounded by a fortress. No one gets near her."

But as Kaelen was issuing the commands, a series of high-pitched, urgent beeps emanated from Evelyn's console. A red alert was flashing on her screen, a silent alarm she had embedded deep within the federal databases she had just accessed.

"Wait," she said, her voice suddenly tight. She held up a hand, silencing both men.

"What is it?" Chase asked, his voice laced with concern.

Evelyn's fingers flew across the keyboard, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "My access to the Marshals' database left a digital footprint, a deliberate one, designed to be almost invisible. It's a tripwire. I just got an alert. Someone else is following my trail."

She initiated a counter-trace, her own ghost hunting another. The screen filled with a complex, shifting map of data nodes and proxy servers, a high-speed chase happening in the invisible world of the internet.

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