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Chapter 22 - Chapter 22: The Pursuit

Evelyn's breath hitched in her throat as she shoved Dr. Vance forward, adrenaline overriding her exhaustion. Vance was fast, fueled by desperation, but he was years removed from physical exertion.

"Keep running!" Evelyn yelled over the sound of the screeching winch alarm, guiding him around a colossal stack of empty containers. "Where are the keys to your car?"

"I—I don't have a car!" Vance gasped, clutching the flash drive. "I came with a fisherman! He's gone!"

"Then we're on foot!" Evelyn grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the open parking area. The black sedan from Aethel's Corporate Intelligence was now accelerating, its tires squealing as it peeled away from its initial position, heading directly toward the dock's main access point.

Behind them, Evelyn heard a sharp, painful grunt—Liam was engaging the agents.

"They're coming!" she yelled into her comms piece.

Liam's voice, though strained, was clear. "I'm buying you thirty seconds! Don't go to our car! It's compromised! Get to the second-story walkway near the old grain silos! I'll meet you there!"

The instruction was counter-intuitive—running away from their escape vehicle—but Evelyn didn't question it. She pushed Vance onto the concrete loading ramp and toward the skeletal frame of the derelict grain silos.

The agents were faster than they looked. Two men in dark clothing rounded the corner, their faces set in hard, grim lines. They weren't police; they were professionals.

"Stop! Drop the drive, Dr. Vance!" one of them shouted.

Evelyn threw her entire weight against a pallet of coiled rope, sending it crashing to the ground, momentarily blocking their pursuit.

"Go! Go!" she urged Vance up the rusted metal stairs of the walkway, which groaned under their combined weight.

As they reached the top, the roar of the black sedan's engine filled the air. The driver realized they were headed for the walkway and slammed on the brakes, cutting off their ground escape path.

"Trapped!" Vance cried, his body shaking.

Evelyn scanned the terrain. They were fifty feet above the ground, exposed, and flanked. The walkway was a dead end.

Just then, a shadow detached itself from the maze of containers below. Liam. He wasn't running up the stairs. He was climbing the rusty exterior support beams of the silo itself, moving with terrifying speed and agility.

The two pursuing agents reached the base of the stairs and started their ascent.

Liam reached the walkway first, pulling himself up onto the platform right beside Evelyn. He was breathing heavily, a streak of blood darkening his temple, but his eyes were focused and deadly.

"This way!" Liam grabbed Vance, pulling him toward the far end of the walkway. "It connects to the next warehouse!"

They ran across the swaying metal platform just as the agents crested the top of the stairs.

"Hayes! Don't be stupid! We just want the drive!" one agent shouted, pulling out a small, taser-like weapon.

Liam didn't answer. He reached the gap between the walkway and the next building—a seven-foot jump over a fifty-foot drop onto concrete.

"Vance, you go first!" Liam commanded.

Vance stared down into the darkness, paralyzed. "I—I can't!"

"Yes, you can!" Evelyn shoved him, the sheer panic of the moment giving her extraordinary strength. Vance stumbled, found his footing, and leaped across the gap, landing hard on the far side.

Evelyn followed immediately, jumping and catching the edge of the adjacent roof with a desperate scramble.

Liam was last. He didn't jump. As the agents fired the taser, he used the railing as a springboard, launching himself at the nearest agent and tackling him back down the stairs in a violent, tangled fall. The taser shot harmlessly into the night sky.

Evelyn looked down. Liam and the agents were a chaotic knot on the steel stairs.

"Liam!"

"Go! Use the roof hatch! Get the drive to Marcus!" he screamed, his voice strained. "I'll catch up!"

Evelyn knew this was the moment of ultimate commitment. She grabbed Vance and forced open the rusting metal hatch on the warehouse roof. They tumbled inside, into the darkness and the thick, dusty smell of dry goods.

She sealed the hatch just as she heard the sound of footsteps pounding on the metal walkway above. Julian Thorne's money had purchased the means to catch them, but Liam's sacrifice had bought them the escape. The cost of the extraction was now being paid in physical damage and separation. They had the evidence, but they had left their protector behind.

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