Chapter 2 - The Soft Underbelly
The fluorescent lights of the Queens strip mall office hummed with a high-pitched whine. Jackson’s workspace smelled of damp cardboard, stale tobacco, and printer toner—a place where people uncovered secrets and tracked hidden accounts.
Jackson leaned over a dual-monitor setup, tapping a thick index finger against a complex web of corporate charts. "The Pierce Group is a front for high-yield private equity parking, Captain. Desmond uses offshore shell companies in the Caymans to filter capital gains. But look right here."
He zoomed in on a subsidiary called Aegis Holdings.
"What about them?" I asked, resting my hand on the back of his chair.
"That's Owen's personal playground," Jackson grinned, revealing a chipped front tooth. "He’s been using corporate funds to finance private jets, art acquisitions, and silent partnerships in Manhattan restaurants, all written off as business expenses."
"Embezzlement wrapped in a tax loophole," Maeve’s voice crackled through the desktop speakers from her Brooklyn apartment. Her keyboard clattered in the background. "I have the ledger backups right here. Three million shifted out of the employee pension fund last quarter alone. If the board finds out, he’s facing a federal grand jury."
I stared at the figures. Three million dollars. To Owen, it was pocket change; to the workers whose retirements depended on it, it was everything.
"We don't go to the board," I said softly.
Jackson raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to burn him legally?"
"Not yet," I said. "Legal proceedings take months, giving them time to hide assets and spin a PR narrative. We want an unconditional surrender."
"So what's the play?" Maeve asked.
May you like
"We execute a liquidity squeeze," I replied. "Maeve, coordinate with our shell corporation, Vanguard Holdings. Buy up twenty percent of their secondary debt tranche through a third-party broker by sundown. Jackson, get me dirt on the Frankfurt bank holding their bridge loan."
"Copy that, Captain," Jackson said. "Consider it done."
