I figured he was relatively safe on his own at the moment. The Consortium had bigger problems to worry about.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get out of these wet clothes and take a hot shower.”
“You’re excused,” Madelyn said.
I hustled up to my stateroom, peeled out of my clothes, and ran a hot shower. It felt great. But I kept thinking about Kovalenko and a potential FDLE investigation.
I toweled off, wrapped it around my waist, and stepped back into my room.
Madelyn had grabbed her laptop and sat at my desk.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“What I should have done a long time ago.” She inserted the HSM into a USB port and logged into the platform with her admin credentials. After a few taps of the keys, she hesitated a moment. “When I press enter, this is going to upload the final update to the platform. It will make it completely distributed and immutable, and will burn the key. No one will be able to make changes, not even me. It will belong to everyone and be completely autonomous.”
“No way to shut it down or hack the data?”
“In theory.”
Her finger hovered over the enter key. “I’ve been working on this code for a long time. Let’s hope it works, because there is no going back.”
49
Madelyn tapped the key.
The update launched, and a progress bar appeared on the screen.
In a moment, it was done.
Madelyn smiled. “That’s it. They can kidnap me, torture me, kill me, but they’ll never be able to get what they want. Hopefully, that removes the incentive to try.”
“Something tells me Sebastian and his business partners aren’t going to be too happy about this.”
“Oh, hell no. His partners wanted to mine data and sell in-app ads. I’m sure there will be lawsuits. The value of the company will plummet. I’m sure I’ll be broke and penniless, but I’ll have my integrity,” she said. She closed the laptop, stood up, and wrapped her arms around my neck. “There are just some things money can’t buy.”
She planted her plump lips against mine as the storm ragedoutside. The boat creaked and groaned as the wind pushed it around. Perfect weather for tumbling around the sheets.
We put the mattress to the test and wore ourselves out.
Thunder boomed for most of the night, but the storm had moved out by morning.
I pulled myself out of bed, went through my morning routine, then started grilling breakfast in the galley. The delightful smell of bacon and coffee filled the air.
I flipped on the TV and caught the morning news.
A breaking update flashed on the screen. "In shocking news, Viktor Kovalenko was arrested last night along with several others for kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, and multiple other charges. Kovalenko was being held in a county detention facility overnight, where he was stabbed by a fellow inmate. Two other Kovalenko associates were killed while in custody in what appears to be a coordinated attack. We’ll have more on the story as it develops.”
I called the sheriff, and he filled me in on the situation. There was no doubt in my mind that someone wanted Viktor Kovalenko dead before he could spill any information about the Consortium or its members. I'm sure there were plenty more responsible that would never face justice.
So much for Kovalenko filing a civil suit for excessive force.
The segment cut to Paris Delaney, live outside the hospital, as Ava got discharged. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and a veil that covered her face. Dressed to the nines, she didn't look like someone who had spent the last several days in the hospital.
The camera captured footage of Sebastian as he escorted her into the back of a black SUV with tinted windows.
Paris shouted, "What can you tell us about the kidnapping?”
Once Ava was situated in the vehicle, Sebastian closed her door, then moved around the front of the vehicle to climb in on the other side. He addressed the camera along the way. "For now, at least, it seems justice has been served.”
