Chapter 5 - The Chase Through the Capital
I slammed my shoulder against the heavy steel door just as the automated pneumatic lock began to engage. The gap was barely wide enough for my body, but I tore myself through, tumbling out into the third-floor hallway as the door sealed shut with a heavy, definitive metallic clang behind me.
The office floor was in absolute chaos. The emergency red lights were flashing, and the overhead speakers continued their monotonous warning. Developers and analysts were standing up from their cubicles, looking around in confusion.
"Stop that woman!" David’s voice muffled through the intercom system from inside the server room. "She just compromised the core database!"
Two private security guards in black uniforms burst through the double doors at the end of the main hallway, their hands drawn toward their utility belts. They spotted me immediately.
"Ma'am! Halt! Remain exactly where you are!" the first guard shouted, sprinting down the carpeted corridor toward me.
I didn't freeze. A year ago, a shouting man would have made my knees buckle. Today, it was nothing more than a signal to move.
I turned and bolted in the opposite direction, toward the rear emergency staircase. My high heels clicked loudly against the floor before I ripped them off with two swift motions, throwing them behind me as I ran in my bare feet. The rough industrial carpet felt coarse against my soles, but I didn't care.
I reached the emergency door, threw my weight against the push-bar, and burst into the concrete stairwell.
"Mara, they are closing the perimeter gates!" Nina’s voice screamed in my ear, nearly drowned out by the sound of sirens blaring outside the building. "The security van cannot get close to the main entrance. You have to make it to the employee parking structure on the north side!"
"I'm in the rear stairwell!" I panted, throwing myself down the concrete steps three at a time, my hand sliding along the cold steel railing to maintain my balance.
Behind me, the door at the top of the stairs flew open, and the heavy sound of security boots echoed through the concrete enclosure. "She's in the north stairwell! Level 2, moving fast!"
I reached the ground floor exit, pushed the door open, and ran out into the blazing afternoon heat. The bright sunlight blinded me for a split second, but I kept moving, sprinting across the hot asphalt of the loading dock toward the multi-level parking garage fifty yards away.
A white security SUV tore around the corner of Building B, its rooftop lights flashing. The vehicle accelerated directly toward me, its tires squealing against the pavement.
"Stop!" the driver yelled through a loudspeaker.
I veered sharply to the left, diving behind a row of industrial recycling bins just as the SUV slammed its brakes, sliding sideways into the space I had occupied a second prior. I didn't stop to look. I scrambled back to my feet and leaped into the open pedestrian entrance of the parking garage.
The garage was a cavernous structure of gray concrete and deep shadows.
"Nina, I’m in the structure!" I breathed into the microphone, my lungs burning, my feet covered in black dust and bleeding from a small cut. "Where are you?"
"Level 3, Section G!" Nina replied. "I’ve bypassed the exit gate arm with the van, but Marcus Vance’s private security contractors just arrived at the main gate. They aren't local police, Mara. They’re his personal corporate enforcement team. They are armed."
I ran up the concrete ramp of the garage, my heart hammering against my chest like a trapped bird. Every footstep seemed to echo throughout the structure, making it impossible to tell if the sounds of pursuit were coming from ahead or behind.
As I reached the transition to Level 3, a tall man in a dark gray tactical suit stepped out from behind a concrete pillar twenty feet in front of me. He held a compact black radio in one hand and a semi-automatic pistol at his hip. His face was entirely devoid of emotion—a professional contract operator.
"Target sighted on Level 3," he said calmly into his collar mic, his eyes locking onto mine. "Stand down, Ms. Vale. There is nowhere left for you to run."
He raised the pistol, aiming it directly at my chest.
I stopped, my breath catching in my throat. The cold steel of the weapon reflected the dim fluorescent lighting of the garage.
For a fraction of a second, the old phantom memory of Daniel’s fist rising toward my face flashed before my eyes. You freeze when you're afraid, his voice echoed in my memory.
No, I thought. Not anymore.
I didn't turn around. I didn't drop to my knees.
Instead, I reached out and violently grabbed the handle of a heavy, rolling metal janitorial cart loaded with industrial chemical cleaners that sat against the wall beside me. With every ounce of strength in my body, I shoved the heavy cart directly down the sloping concrete ramp toward the operator.
The cart accelerated rapidly, its small wheels screaming against the concrete, bottles of bleach and industrial solvents rattling violently.
The operator’s eyes narrowed. He was forced to dive sideways to avoid the hundred-pound metal projectile. The cart slammed into the concrete pillar behind him, exploding into a shower of plastic shards and liquid chemicals.
I didn't wait for him to recover. I broke into a full sprint, veering around the opposite side of the pillar, and burst into Section G.
A massive, blacked-out Mercedes Sprinter van sat idling in the center of the aisle, its sliding side door wide open. Nina was in the driver’s seat, her face pale with terror as she watched the rearview mirror.
"Mara! Get in!" she roared.
I dove through the open sliding door, landing hard on the carpeted floor of the van’s interior. Before my feet were even inside, Nina slammed the van into reverse, the transmission groaning as the heavy vehicle leaped backward.
The tactical operator appeared at the entrance of the aisle, raising his weapon and firing three rapid shots.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The bullets struck the reinforced rear glass of the van, spiderwebbing the surface into white patterns but failing to penetrate.
"It’s armored!" Nina yelled over her shoulder, throwing the steering wheel around and shifting into drive. "Your father made sure the firm leased a ballistic-rated transport for this run!"
The van roared down the exit ramp of the parking structure, crashing through the plastic security gate arm at forty miles per hour. As we burst onto the public road, I crawled onto the rear bench seat, looking out the cracked rear window.
Behind us, two black SUVs pulled out of the OmniSec main gate, their engines roaring as they accelerated into traffic, pursuing us with terrifying speed.
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"They're on us, Nina!" I shouted, holding onto the headrest as the van swerved through the afternoon traffic. "They aren't going to let us leave Richmond."
"We aren't staying in Richmond," Nina said, her knuckles white on the wheel as she guided the heavy van onto the entry ramp of Interstate 95 North, heading straight toward the federal heart of the country. "We have an appointment with a federal prosecutor in Washington, and God help anyone who tries to stand in our way."
