Chapter 6 - The Broken Clockwork: How A Seven-Year-Old Boy Outsmarted A Wall Street Syndicate
By 5:00 AM, the executive conference room on the fourth floor of the hospital had been converted into a command center.
Daniel, Arthur Vance, and Detective Vance stood around the table, reviewing the financial schematics recovered from Brody’s briefcase.
"Julian’s plan relies on a synchronized digital transaction," Arthur Vance explained, pointing at a timeline. "At 8:00 AM, the board convenes. At 8:15 AM, Julian’s proxy vote is registered via digital token. At 8:20 AM, the corporate treasury initiates an automated wire of $150 million to Vanguard Maritime’s escrow account at Credit Suisse in Zurich. Once that wire clears, the asset transfer is legally finalized under Swiss banking privacy statutes."
"We can't freeze the Swiss accounts in time without a formal treaty request from the State Department," Detective Vance said grimly. "That takes forty-eight hours."
"We don't freeze the Swiss accounts," Daniel said. "We destroy the voting quorum inside the boardroom."
Leo walked over to the table, holding his small tablet computer—the device he used for his school math games.
"Dad," Leo said, tugging on Daniel’s sleeve. "Look."
Daniel looked down. "Not now, buddy. We’re working."
"No, Dad, look," Leo insisted, holding up the screen. "Grandpa’s watch. It’s on the map."
Daniel stopped. "What watch?"
"Grandpa’s gold watch," Leo said innocently. "The big one he wears on Sundays. He let me pair it with my tablet last Christmas so we could play the treasure hunt game in the garden."
Daniel grabbed the tablet.
On the screen was a live, pulsing blue dot located at an executive hangar at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
Arthur Sterling, sitting in a wheelchair by the window, wearing a crisp white dress shirt and a navy cashmere cardigan, let out a low, dry chuckle that sounded like grinding millstones.
"The Patek Philippe Grandmaster," Arthur said, a ghost of a smile touching his thin lips. "Julian took it off my wrist when he locked me in the wall. The fool thought it was just a half-million-dollar trophy. He didn't know I had an emergency micro-GPS transponder embedded in the platinum case five years ago after the kidnapping threats in Singapore."
Daniel looked at his seven-year-old son, lifting the boy off the floor and kissing his forehead.
"You brilliant little warrior," Daniel breathed.
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He turned to Detective Vance. "Julian isn't in Manhattan. He’s running the board meeting remotely from a private jet on the tarmac at Teterboro. He’s going to execute the digital proxy from international airspace."
Detective Vance checked his sidearm. "Federal airspace jurisdiction applies. Let’s move."
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