My Secret TikTok Life: Family Disgrace to Global Kingmaker

Chapter 22: The Remote Extraction

I sat in the dim light of the Bronx basement, my eyes locked on the laptop screen. The "Digital Eraser" was still looping through Kaelen’s mirrors, but the red dot on the security map was stationary. It was hovering over the Sunnyside Diner.

"She’s sitting in the window," Kaelen whispered, his face pale. "She’s a lighthouse, Salim. If those SUVs pull up, she’s gone. You can't get there in time. It’s three miles."

I didn't move. My hands were hovering over the keyboard, but my mind was inside the Ghost Interface. I didn't need to be there physically to be her manager.

[System Protocol: Remote Guidance Engaged.] [Target: Elara Vance.] [Connection: Secure VoIP / Encrypted Text.]

"I'm not going to the diner," I said. "I'm bringing the diner to me."

I opened a private, encrypted chat window on the burner phone I’d left with Elara earlier. I didn't call her; a ringing phone would draw attention. I sent a single, high-priority notification that would bypass her silent mode.

[Ghost_Manager]: Don’t look up. Don’t react. Read this carefully.

On the screen, I watched the diner's internal security feed that Kaelen had hacked. I saw Elara flinch as her phone vibrated. She didn't look up. She was learning. She reached for her phone with a slow, casual movement.

[Ghost_Manager]: There are two black SUVs turning onto your block right now. In 60 seconds, four men will enter. They are not police. They are Bakar recovery teams.

I saw her hand tremble. She started to turn her head toward the window.

[Ghost_Manager]: DO NOT LOOK. If you look, they’ll know you’re tipped off. Look at your menu. Act like you’re deciding on dessert.

She froze, then slowly redirected her gaze to the laminated menu.

[Estimated Time to Impact: 45 Seconds]

"Kaelen," I barked. "I need the traffic lights on 8th and 34th. Turn them all red. I need to bottle up those SUVs."

Kaelen’s fingers flew. "I’m on it. Accessing municipal transit grid... God-key accepted. 8th Avenue is now a parking lot."

On the map, the two red arrows representing the Recovery Team stopped. They were half a block away, trapped behind a sudden wall of red lights and frustrated taxis. It bought us two minutes.

[Ghost_Manager]: Stand up now. Leave your bag on the seat. Walk toward the restrooms. There is a service door next to the payphone. Go through it.

I watched the grainy black-and-white footage. Elara stood up. She looked terrified, but she followed the instructions. She slipped past a waiter and vanished into the hallway.

[Ghost_Manager]: You are in the alley. Turn left. There is a delivery van idling with the back doors open. Get in. Don’t speak to the driver.

"Salim, what van?" Kaelen asked, looking at me like I was crazy. "We don't have a van."

"The System does," I muttered.

I had intercepted a local delivery app’s dispatch. I knew a laundry van was scheduled to drop off linens at the diner at exactly 2:14 AM. I had sent a fake 'order update' to the driver’s phone, telling him to wait in the alley for five minutes for a 'security check.'

I watched as Elara climbed into the back of the white van. Ten seconds later, the two black SUVs finally broke through the traffic and slammed onto the curb in front of the diner. Four men jumped out, moving with military precision. They burst through the front doors.

"They're inside," Kaelen whispered.

"And she's gone," I said.

I sent the final command to the delivery driver’s app: [Order Cancelled. Return to Warehouse #4 – Bronx.]

The van pulled out of the alley just as one of the Bakar fixers stepped out the back door, his hand on his holster. He looked left and right, but the alley was empty. He had missed her by thirty seconds.

For the next forty minutes, Kaelen and I sat in silence, watching the blue dot move across the bridge and into the Bronx. The System provided a live feed of the van’s GPS. I could see the Recovery Team scrambled, their icons circling the diner like frustrated sharks. They were pinging every cell tower in a three-block radius, but I had already instructed Elara to drop her phone into a bleach bucket in the diner's kitchen.

She was off the grid.

"She's three blocks away," Kaelen said, checking the street-level camera outside the laundromat. "Salim... she’s going to be frantic. She doesn't know who I am. She doesn't even know this place exists."

"She knows me," I said. I stood up, feeling the weight of the night in my bones. "That's all she needs."

I walked up the basement stairs and stood in the shadows of the laundromat’s entrance. A few minutes later, the white laundry van pulled over. The driver, looking confused, got out to check his tablet. As soon as he walked toward the front of the shop, the back doors creaked open.

Elara stepped out. She looked like she had been through a war. Her hair was a mess, and she was shivering in the cold Bronx air. She looked around the grimy street, her eyes wide with panic, until they landed on me.

I stepped out of the shadows. I didn't say a word. I just nodded.

The relief that crossed her face was so intense she almost collapsed. She ran to me, grabbing my arm so hard her fingernails dug into my skin. "They were there, Salim. I saw them through the kitchen door. They had... they looked like they were going to kill me."

"They were going to take you back to a cage," I said, my voice low. "But you're in the Ghost's territory now. They can't see us here."

I led her toward the basement door. She hesitated, looking down into the dark, flickering light of the stairs.

"Who else is down there?" she asked.

"A friend," I said. "The man who’s going to help us turn your voice into a weapon they can't delete."

As we descended into the Bunker, the smell of hot servers and ozone hit us. Kaelen stood up as we entered, looking awkward and nervous. Elara stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the wall of complex data streams.

"What is this place?" she whispered.

"This is going to be Wraith Media," I said, leaning against the concrete wall.

[Influence Level: -35 (Rising)] [Physical Integrity: 12%] 

I looked at the screen. The Bakars were still searching the diner. They were looking for a girl in a booth. They didn't realize that the girl was now the heartbeat of a digital fortress.

"Kaelen," I said, "Show her the Eraser. Show her why she’s the most dangerous person in the city."

The war for the streets was over for the night. The war for the truth was just beginning.