ISAAC MORANO

**19**

Chapter Nineteen- Redemption

" I have a thumb drive." He told her.

Catherine raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "A thumb drive? You're quite the strategist, aren't you?"

The man nodded, his voice shaky. "I thought if things went south, I could use it to protect myself. It has everything—names, locations, deals. You can't just throw me to the wolves!"

Isaac stepped closer, his gaze fixed intently on the thumb drive. "What exactly is on it? You need to understand that if you're lying again, this will not end well for you."

"Information on the corrupt officials, connections to the terrorist group, even some financial records," the man hurriedly explained. "It's all there! I didn't want to get caught up in this, but I had to be smart about it."

Catherine took the drive from him, her expression unreadable. "If what you're saying is true, this could be useful. But if we find even one discrepancy..." She let the sentence hang, allowing the threat to settle in.

Marco leaned against the wall, arms crossed, smirking. "Let's just say it'd be a shame if something happened to that pretty face of yours."

The man gulped, glancing nervously between them. "I swear! It's all true! Just don't hurt me!"

Catherine inserted the thumb drive into her laptop, the screen lighting up with files and folders. "Let's see what you've got," she said, scrolling through the contents.

As she accessed the data, Isaac leaned in closer, whispering, "If this checks out, it could change everything. But we need to keep our guard up. He's still a liability."

Catherine nodded, focused on the screen. "I know. But if he's telling the truth, this might just give us the edge we need."

The atmosphere in the room shifted from tense to electric as they began to uncover the layers of information hidden within the drive. Each click brought them closer to the truth, and closer to unraveling the web of corruption threatening their lives and those around them.

As they sifted through the contents of the thumb drive, excitement rippled through the room. Catherine's eyes widened as she uncovered names, dates, and connections that confirmed their suspicions.

"This is gold," she exclaimed, glancing up at Isaac and Marco, her voice barely containing her thrill. "We finally have tangible evidence against some of the people involved in this mess."

Isaac leaned closer, pointing at a particularly damning file. "Look at this. It's a list of transactions between the officials and the terrorist group. If we can bring this to light, it could dismantle their entire operation."

Marco grinned, a rare expression of enthusiasm breaking his usual stoicism. "And it'll put a lot of pressure on those corrupt officials. They won't know what hit them."

Catherine couldn't help but smile. "We've got a solid case here, but we need to be smart about how we approach this. We can't expose everything at once; we need to strategize."

"Agreed," Isaac replied, his tone serious. "We need to secure this information and find a way to get it into the right hands without putting ourselves in danger."

As they discussed their next steps, the mood in the room transformed from tense to hopeful. The weight of the threats they faced was still looming, but now they had a powerful weapon to fight back with.

Catherine looked at the man they had captured, still tied up and watching them with a mixture of fear and respect. "You might have just helped us turn the tide," she said, her voice steady. "But remember, you're still on thin ice. One misstep, and we'll be right back where we started."