“Someone helped her, Mr. Hale,” Collins replied, his voice flat, professional, and chillingly grim:
“The code executed on our central mainframe wasn't a standard civilian factory wipe. It was an un-traceable, military-grade DOD five-two-twenty-point-twenty-two cryptographic sanitization script. It didn't just delete her files; it overwrote the physical sectors of the hard drives sixteen times with pseudo-random noise.”
Collins looked toward the empty closet where only five empty hangers remained:
“And three minutes before the server went dark, an encrypted electronic document was lodged with the clerk of the San Francisco Superior Court.”
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Collins pulled a folded sheet of fax paper from his inner pocket, handing it to the trembling billionaire.
Marcus snatched it, his bloodshot eyes scanning the bold, black legal letterhead:
IN RE: THE MARRIAGE OF MARCUS ALEXANDER HALE AND NATALIE ELEANOR MERCER-HALE
PETITION FOR IMMEDIATE DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE & SEVERANCE OF MARITAL COMMERCE
REPRESENTING PETITIONER: NATHAN BROOKS // BROOKS, STERLING & VANCE LLP
