Chapter 27: The Ghost Package
Liam's plan was a masterclass in controlled misdirection, designed to exploit Julian Thorne's faith in his digital surveillance network. The objective was simple: convince Thorne's intelligence agents that the evidence—and the witness—were traveling commercially.
Evelyn and Dr. Vance were sequestered in the back of Marcus's unmarked van, waiting. Evelyn looked at Liam, who was preparing for the riskiest part of the plan. He was wearing a generic dark jacket, carrying a nondescript briefcase, and moving with the coiled intensity of a predator about to strike.
"You have the dummy drive?" Evelyn asked.
Liam held up a standard-looking metallic flash drive—identical in appearance to the Cerebrum Labs IP, but containing only obsolete schematics from an old, publicly available patent. "Loaded with enough useless data to look like a desperate move. Their surveillance will confirm the transfer when I use the airport Wi-Fi."
"This is madness, Liam. You're painting a target on your back," Evelyn worried.
"It's not madness, it's tradecraft," Liam replied, meeting her gaze. His proximity and the shared danger made the air crackle between them. "Their analysts know I'm your security. They'll predict I'm the one carrying the evidence. They follow me, you disappear. That's the exchange."
He hesitated, then reached out and placed his hand briefly on her shoulder. "Marcus has the coordinates for the plane. He has the code phrase for the pilot. Trust his network. And when you land, trust Sharma. She's the only anchor we have left."
Before Evelyn could reply, Marcus's voice cut in over the secure comms: "Go time, Liam. My dummy booking for the red-eye to Chicago is confirmed. They'll be tracking your facial recognition from the moment you hit the terminal."
Liam gave a curt nod to Evelyn, a silent farewell loaded with unspoken urgency, and slipped out of the van.
Terminal Deception
Evelyn and Marcus tracked Liam's progress on a small, encrypted tablet. He moved quickly through the LAX departures area, deliberately pausing at the ticketing counter for the flight Marcus had booked in a fake name. He looked directly at a ceiling camera, then pulled out the dummy flash drive and conspicuously plugged it into a charging station, ensuring the network logs registered a massive, sudden data pull.
"He's baiting them," Marcus murmured, his eyes glued to the screen showing the flight log instantly update with a 'high-priority threat assessment' flag. "They're going to assume he's transferring the drive to an intermediary, or backing it up before boarding."
"They'll follow him onto the plane," Evelyn realized.
"They'll be all over the plane," Marcus confirmed. "And when they realize the package is fake in Chicago, you'll be long gone from the eastern seaboard."
With Liam successfully drawing the net, Marcus drove them toward the true escape route: a small, private airfield on the periphery of the city, utilized mainly by agricultural delivery services.
The atmosphere in the van was tense. Dr. Vance, though quiet, was clearly wrestling with his moral conflict.
"Evelyn," Vance finally said, his voice barely a whisper. "The affidavit from Dr. Li and Dr. Chen—the ones who denied the ledger. They didn't do it out of greed."
"They did it out of fear, Aris already told us," Evelyn said gently.
"No. They did it because Thorne threatened their families," Vance confessed, his eyes haunted. "He bought their silence, but he secured it by controlling their children's education funds and their spouses' healthcare trusts. He didn't just take their money; he controlled their ability to care for their loved ones. The money became a weaponized duty."
Vance's words hit Evelyn with cold clarity. It wasn't just about principles; it was about the complex, brutal ways money could enforce loyalty through love. It made her realize the immense pressure Liam was under, too—not just professionally, but personally.
The Lift-Off
They arrived at the small airfield. A beat-up, single-engine cargo plane sat waiting on the tarmac, its propeller already idling. An older woman with sharp, kind eyes met them beside the cockpit.
"I'm Captain Ruth. Marcus said you need a very quiet ride," she said, her voice gravelly.
"The quietest," Marcus confirmed, handing her a worn log book. "Vance and Evelyn are the cargo. Drop them at a regional airport outside D.C. I'll coordinate the ground transfer."
"No problem. I fly outside the digital grid. We'll be ghosts until we land."
Evelyn helped Vance climb into the cramped, dark cabin. Before she climbed in herself, she turned to Marcus.
"Where will you be?"
"Everywhere," Marcus said, zipping the backpack with the Cerebrum Labs drive to her chair harness. "I need to go back into the digital field. I have to manage the fallout from the Chicago decoy and prepare the legal defense for Liam's inevitable troubles. I'll see you on the other side, Evelyn. Don't lose that drive."
Evelyn nodded, then looked back toward the dark expanse where Liam had disappeared. She felt a profound sense of loneliness, knowing her only physical protector was now the designated target of Thorne's global intelligence network.
As the small plane taxied down the runway, Evelyn looked out the window. The city lights began to fade, but she held onto the memory of Liam's final, brief touch, a silent promise to meet again. The words were safe, but the people who carried them were now scattered and running.