Episode : 6 The Final Offer!
The Crestview Conspiracy - A Jason Noble Audio Thriller -?
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Previously: The Reckoning
The Crestview Conspiracy: In the fight for redemption, trust no one.
Episode : 6 The Final Offer! <Click to listen!
“Drop your accusations. Publicly retract everything, and we’ll make sure the charges against you disappear. You’ll walk free, no more media circus, no more court battles. Just... freedom.”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “And if I don’t?”
Her smile was icy. “Then you’ll rot in here. Crestview’s lawyers will make sure the charges stick, and by the time we’re done, no one will even remember your name.”
Jason leaned back against the wall, his pulse steady. “Tell David I said no.”
The lawyer’s smile faded, her eyes turning cold. “Have it your way.” She left as quickly as she came, leaving Jason with the heavy weight of his decision.
Emma was already neck-deep in work by the time Jason had been booked. The safehouse felt like a war room now, her laptop surrounded by piles of documents, old notes, and USB drives with every scrap of data she and Jason had collected on Crestview. But it still wasn’t enough.
Richard’s words echoed in her mind: Find more dirt. Something bigger.
Emma’s eyes flicked back to her screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she combed through encrypted emails, offshore account transactions, and financial reports. Crestview had done an excellent job covering their tracks, but she was determined to find the one crack that would bring the whole house of cards tumbling down.
She paused, taking a deep breath. She needed to think like Jason. He had always been able to see patterns where others saw chaos. What would Jason do?
And then it hit her.
David had once made an offhand comment at a dinner party, years ago, when Jason had first introduced her to Crestview’s elite. Something about a shell company used for “certain transactions.” At the time, she had written it off as a joke—rich men bragging about their clever tricks. But now, in the context of everything she knew, it felt like a lead.
Her heart raced as she began digging deeper into Crestview’s offshore accounts, cross-referencing the names of the companies involved. Then, she found it: Oceanside Ventures. A small shell company, registered in the Cayman Islands, that had been used to funnel millions of dollars from various Crestview projects. But the kicker? Oceanside Ventures was directly linked to David’s personal accounts. It wasn’t just Crestview’s fraud—it was David’s.
“Got you,” Emma whispered, adrenaline surging through her veins.
She quickly saved everything, encrypting the files before sending them to Richard. But she knew this wasn’t enough. She needed something indisputable—something that could tie David not just to the money, but to the crimes themselves.
That’s when she decided to take the biggest risk yet. She needed to get into Crestview’s secure network.
While Emma was racing to find the smoking gun, Jason was fighting his own battle in custody. Crestview had clearly paid off the guards, because the moment he was moved to a general holding cell, things got worse. Two inmates cornered him in the shower, shoving him against the tiles, their eyes cold and threatening.
“This isn’t personal,” one of them growled, pinning Jason’s arm behind his back. “You pissed off the wrong people.”
Jason fought back instinctively, struggling to free himself. But he knew this was more than just a physical fight—it was a warning from Crestview. They wanted him scared, broken, silenced.
The scuffle ended with Jason bruised but intact. As he lay on the thin cot that night, staring up at the ceiling, his mind kept circling back to David. If he stayed in here too long, Crestview would break him. He needed to get out, to fight from the outside. But he had to trust that Emma would come through. It was his only shot.
Late that night, Emma put the final piece of her plan into action. She had been sitting on an old access key—something Jason had lifted during his last weeks at Crestview before everything fell apart. It was a risky move, but if she could break into the company’s secure servers, she might find the damning evidence she needed.
Her heart pounded as she bypassed the firewalls, her screen filling with lines of code. Minutes ticked by like hours, and sweat beaded on her forehead as she navigated through Crestview’s labyrinthine security system. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she was in.
The files she found were staggering—emails, memos, secret deals, all pointing to illegal operations that stretched far beyond the initial fraud. But one email stood out. It was from David to an external fixer—a man known for “handling problems” outside of legal channels. The email was explicit: David had authorized payments to silence whistle-blowers and sabotage investigations. It wasn’t just financial fraud anymore. David was involved in bribery, coercion, and possibly worse.
Emma’s hands trembled as she copied everything, sending the entire cache to Richard with a note: We have him. Move now.
At dawn, Jason was pulled from his cell, expecting another round of questioning—or worse. But instead, the guard told him his lawyer was waiting. Jason’s heart leaped. Maybe Emma had done it.
When he was brought to the visitation room, Richard was there, his expression serious but with a glint of triumph in his eyes.
“You’re getting out, Jason,” Richard said quietly. “Emma found the final piece. David’s tied to everything—bribes, coercion, even attempts to silence witnesses. The DOJ is taking over, and Crestview is scrambling.”
Jason felt a wave of relief wash over him, though he knew it wasn’t over yet. “What’s the next move?”
“We’re pressing charges against David directly. Crestview’s board is cutting him loose to save themselves, but it’s too late. With what Emma found, there’s no way they’ll be able to keep you in here. You’ll be out by tomorrow.”
Jason nodded, a spark of hope reigniting in his chest. But as he sat back in his chair, his mind shifted to David. Crestview was falling apart, but David? David was still out there, and Jason knew that men like him didn’t go down easily.
The following day, Jason walked out of the holding facility, free but far from safe. The charges against him had been dropped, but David hadn’t disappeared. Crestview was crumbling under the weight of the investigation, and the media was finally turning against them, but Jason knew better than to celebrate too soon.
Emma met him at the gate, her face exhausted but relieved. They hugged tightly, neither saying much, but the shared look between them said it all: the fight wasn’t over.
“We have enough to take David down now,” Emma said as they walked toward the car. “But he’s not going to go quietly.”
Jason nodded, determination filling his veins once again. “Then we’ll have to make sure he has no choice.”
In the weeks following Jason’s release, Crestview Industries crumbled like a house of cards. The SEC and DOJ investigations tore through the company's tangled web of offshore accounts, bribes, and fraud. Emma’s evidence had been the final blow, unearthing a decade of corruption that ran deeper than anyone imagined.
The media, once Crestview’s ally, now turned against them with the ferocity of sharks smelling blood in the water. Headlines splashed across every outlet: “Crestview Empire Falls,” “CEO David Langley Under Investigation for Fraud, Bribery,” “Whistle-blower Jason Noble Exonerated.”
The board tried to distance themselves from David, firing him publicly and releasing statements about “mismanagement.” But it was too late. With Emma’s emails connecting David to both the financial fraud and his personal attempts to silence whistle-blowers, the entire company was being dismantled. Executives were resigning, lawyers were scrambling to make deals, and Crestview’s stock had plummeted to a record low.
Still, amid the chaos, Jason knew that David wasn’t finished. Men like him always had an exit strategy.
Jason had spent years imagining the day he would confront David for the last time, but now that it was here, the reality felt heavier. The investigation had ruined David’s public image, but Jason knew that wouldn’t be enough. David still had resources, connections—and the will to strike back.
Jason sat in Emma’s apartment, the glow from the laptop illuminating his face as he sifted through the latest news. Richard had tipped him off: David was planning to leave the country. Crestview was in shambles, but David had funneled enough money through his offshore accounts to live comfortably in exile.
“He’s skipping town,” Emma said, reading over Jason’s shoulder. “I found a private jet registered under one of his shell companies. It’s taking off tonight.”
Jason’s blood boiled. David wasn’t going to face the consequences. He was running—again. But Jason wasn’t about to let him disappear into the shadows.
“We need to stop him,” Jason said, standing abruptly. His mind was already racing with plans. “Where’s the flight leaving from?”
Emma clicked a few more keys on her laptop. “Private airstrip outside the city. He’s probably heading to the Cayman's or somewhere without extradition.”
Jason’s jaw clenched. “Not if we get there first.”
The drive to the private airstrip felt like something out of a nightmare—Jason’s heart pounding in sync with the roar of the engine. Emma sat beside him, a grim determination on her face. This was it. The final move. If they didn’t stop David now, he’d vanish, and everything they’d fought for would be for nothing.
“I called Richard,” Emma said. “He’s sending the DOJ, but they’re an hour out. We need to stall David until they get there.”
Jason nodded, his hands gripping the steering wheel. “We can do that.”
Stay tuned for episode 7: Moments before take-off!
Enjoy the Thrill,
The Missing Link Guy!
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Disclaimer
The characters and events in this book are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, or real-life events is purely coincidental. The author emphasizes that the story, its characters, and their actions are solely the product of creative imagination and are not intended to make any claims or references to real situations or individuals.
This disclaimer applies to the entire work, regardless of interpretation or context.