Track them," Naomi ordered, passing him a USB drive. "Every yuan, every recipient." The room fell into focused silence, broken only by keyboard clicks and the rustle of papers. Outside, the city was fully awake. Car horns and construction noise filtering through the windows.
But up here, in their makeshift war room, they were archaeologists unearthing corruption one layer at a time. "Got something big," Kiana said after an hour. "Factory inspection reports from their solar panel plant in Xinjiang. The numbers don't add up." Liang moved to look over her shoulder, his face paling as he read.
"These worker manifests, I've seen this before. "These aren't employees. They're forced labor."" Naomi's head snapped up. ""You're certain?"" "The language is careful, but Liang pulled up another document, translating rapidly. See here? Special worker integration program.
And these housing costs? Far below market rate because they're prison barracks." "Jesus," Kiana whispered. "Download everything," Naomi ordered. "Every report, every memo, every email chain that mentions those facilities."
She stood, pacing the room. "No wonder they buried these files so deep." Liang's fingers hesitated over his keyboard. "Dr. Ellison, this kind of information He swallowed hard. "People disappear for less."
If they trace these breaches back to us "They already threatened me once," Naomi said, touching the note in her pocket. "But this isn't about me anymore." She moved to the window, looking out at the sprawling city. "How many lives are buried in those spreadsheets? How many families torn apart so Ming can add another zero to his bank account?"
"We should at least wait for legal counsel," Kiana suggested, though her tone said she already knew the answer. "Our lawyers are probably compromised," Naomi replied. "Remember those patent clauses that appeared overnight? Someone on our side helped them." She turned back to the room, her expression hard.
"We trust no one outside this room." Liang stood, running both hands through his hair. "Dr. Ellison, please understand. What you're considering, it won't just hurt Zhao Industries. This could embarrass powerful people, trigger international investigations."
He met her eyes. "This information can get you killed." Naomi walked to him, her voice softening but her resolve unchanged. ""So can silence, Liang." Every day we wait, more lives are destroyed." She touched his shoulder.
"But I won't force you to stay. You can walk away right now. No questions asked." He looked at the door, then at his laptop screen where damning numbers scrolled past. After a long moment, he sat back down.
"My father taught me that true honor means standing up to powerful men, not bowing to them." His fingers returned to the keyboard. ""I'm staying."" "Me, too," Kiana said firmly. "All in." They worked through the morning, building their case document by document. Fake environmental impact studies, backdated safety certifications, bribes disguised as charitable donations.
Every discovery revealed new layers of corruption, a cancer eating at the heart of Zhao's empire. "Look at these profit margins," Kiana said, pointing to a graph. "No way they're this high without cutting every corner possible." "Not just corners," Liang added grimly. "Lives, safety, basic human dignity."
He rubbed his eyes. "The deeper we dig, the worse it gets." Naomi studied a series of photos showing factory conditions. "We need more than documents, witnesses, insider testimony." She turned to Liang.
"Any chance your contacts might A sharp tap on glass made them all freeze. Across the street, sunlight flashed off a camera lens. A man in a black suit stood in an office window photographing their room with a long-range camera. "Down," Naomi ordered. They dropped to the floor as she crawled to the window, keeping low.
The man was already gone, leaving only empty windows reflecting morning light. "Close the curtains," she told Kiana. "Liang, start encrypting everything we have. Triple protection." She pulled out her phone, typing rapidly.
"They're watching us now. We need to move fast." The heavy curtains slid shut, plunging the room into artificial twilight. In the dim light, their laptops glowed like campfires, casting shadows on tense faces as they raced to secure their findings before the storm broke. The digital clock on the nightstand blinked 2:00 a.m. in harsh red numbers.
Naomi sat at the desk in her hotel room, reviewing security footage Kiana had pulled from Zhao Industries' servers. Her eyes burned from staring at the screen, but she couldn't sleep. Not with what they'd discovered. A soft click cut through the silence. Naomi's head snapped up.
That wasn't the normal settling of the building. Her hand moved toward her purse where the stun gun waited. The door burst open with a crack of splintering wood. Three men in black masks rushed in, moving with military precision. The first one lunged for her before she could reach her purse.
Naomi grabbed the desk lamp and swung hard. It connected with a satisfying crunch. The man stumbled back, cursing in Mandarin. She kicked the desk chair at the second attacker, buying precious seconds. The third man cornered her by the coffee maker.
Without thinking, Naomi grabbed the pot of water she'd been heating for tea and flung the scalding liquid at his face. His scream pierced the air as he clawed at his mask. Glass shattered as they knocked over the side table. Naomi's bare feet crunched on the fragments, but adrenaline dulled the pain. She ducked a wild punch, years of kickboxing classes taking over.
Her elbow found a solar plexus. Someone's nose met her knee. The door connecting to Kiana's room burst open. Her assistant charged in, wielding a wooden chair like a battering ram. She slammed it into the back of the man grappling with Naomi.
"Run," Naomi shouted, grabbing Kiana's arm. They bolted for the hallway, leaving the men tangled in furniture and cursing. Their bare feet slapped against cold tile as they sprinted for the stairwell. Behind them, heavy footsteps and angry shouts echoed off the walls. Naomi's heart hammered against her ribs.
The fire exit felt miles away. They hit the stairwell at full speed, taking the steps two at a time. The metal door clanged shut behind them just as the fire alarm began to shriek. Red emergency lights cast everything in a hellish glow. "Keep going."
Naomi gasped as Kiana stumbled on the 10th floor. Their pursuers were gaining. She could hear them above, their boots thundering on the metal stairs. They burst out of the stairwell on the fourth floor, racing down a service corridor. A cleaning cart provided cover as they caught their breath.
"Back entrance." Kiana panted, pointing. ""Through the kitchen."" Naomi nodded, her lungs burning. They moved as quietly as they could, bare feet silent on the industrial carpet. Behind them, the fire alarm continued its deafening wail. They made it to the kitchen just as voices shouted in Mandarin from the stairwell.
The cold tile against their feet was almost welcome after the rough carpet had scraped their soles raw. ""There!"" one of the men spotted them through the kitchen window. Naomi grabbed a pot from the drying rack and hurled it at the window. The crash bought them precious seconds as they darted between steel counters and hanging utensils. They reached the loading dock just as police sirens began wailing in the distance. The night air hit them like a slap, raising goosebumps on their arms.