Part 1
Special agents breached the heavy steel crate at El Paso Airport, ending a massive two year investigation. Expecting contraband, FBI Director Vance stepped forward. Suddenly, his face turned pale. There were no drugs. Instead, a chilling scratching echoed from the shadows. Who exactly was locked inside that deadly metal box?
Part 2
Vance unholstered his weapon as the crate’s hydraulic seal hissed open. The stench of ozone and sweat poured out. Huddled in the corner wasn’t the millions in cartel fentanyl they had tracked from Sinaloa. It was Arthur Penhaligon, the disgraced federal prosecutor who vanished off the grid eighteen months ago.
Arthur looked up, clutching a flashing encrypted hard drive to his chest. His expensive tailored suit was shredded, and oddly, his left ring finger was painted entirely gold.
“You’re late, Vance,” Arthur rasped, his throat bone-dry. “They already boarded the flight to D.C. The shipment isn’t drugs. It’s the server.”
Vance lowered his gun, signaling the tactical team to hold their perimeter. “Who boarded, Arthur?”
Arthur’s eyes darted frantically toward the massive hangar doors. “The ones wearing your badges.”
Before Vance could press further on the encrypted drive or the bizarre gold paint, the hangar’s main power grid violently shut down, plunging the task force into pitch darkness. The heavy blast doors began to groan and lock automatically. Someone in the command center was making sure nobody left that room alive.
Who do you think cut the hangar’s power, and what secrets are hidden on that drive? Comment your theories below!
