Chapter 9 - Shadows in Sector C
The darkness in the underground parking structure suddenly felt suffocating. Adeline crouched beside Nico’s wheelchair, her hand instinctively sliding into the deep pocket of her jacket where she kept a heavy metal penlight—not much of a weapon, but the only thing she had.
Two sets of heavy, deliberate footsteps crunched against the gravel near the entrance of Sector C. They weren't trying to be quiet. They weren't hiding.
"I told you the car was moved from the impound," a raspy, unfamiliar voice echoed across the concrete pillars. "The federal marshals cleared the primary data drives yesterday. There's nothing left here for us to clean up."
"Boss wants confirmation," a second, heavier voice replied. "If there's any physical trace of the override module still wired into that chassis, we cut it out and take the whole harness. No loose ends."
Adeline’s blood ran cold. They weren't police. They weren't corporate auditors. They were clean-up crew—professionals hired by whoever was still pulling the strings behind Camille and Marcus.
She looked up at Nico. In the dim, ambient light bouncing off the concrete, his face was a mask of cold, calculating fury. He wasn't panicking; he was assessing angles, distances, and exit routes.
"The service elevator shaft is twenty yards behind us," Nico whispered directly into her ear, his breath warm against her hair. "If we can reach the maintenance corridor, we can lock the security gate from the inside."
"And if they see us?" Adeline whispered back.
"Then we make sure they regret it," Nico replied, his hand slipping into the side pouch of his wheelchair to pull out a heavy steel tire iron he had retrieved from the trunk earlier.
Before Adeline could respond, the sweeping beam of a high-powered tactical flashlight cut across the floor just ten feet away from them, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.
"Hey! Who's down there?" the first voice barked, the footsteps accelerating into a sharp run.
"Move!" Nico hissed.
Adeline grabbed the back of the wheelchair, pushing with all her strength as Nico pumped his arms, wheeling backward into the narrow alleyway between two concrete support pillars just as a barrage of bright light swept over the exact spot they had occupied a second before.
"Over there! By the black sedan!"
A heavy boot scraped against the pavement. The two men were closing the distance fast, their flashlights painting erratic beams across the concrete walls.
Adeline pushed Nico deeper into the shadows of the maintenance corridor, her sneakers squeaking slightly against a slick patch of oil. She spotted the heavy iron security gate just ahead—the mechanical lever was right beside the door frame.
She lunged forward, grabbing the heavy iron lever and hauling down on it with all her body weight.
Clack-screeech!
The heavy steel gate dropped downward with a deafening metallic screech that echoed through the entire lower level, slamming into the concrete floor just as two figures broke out from the shadows of Sector C.
"Stop right there!" one of the men shouted, charging forward, but the heavy steel barrier stood firmly between them, locked securely in place from the inside.
A flashlight beam hit the mesh of the iron gate, illuminating Adeline standing breathless on the other side, and Nico sitting upright in his wheelchair, holding the heavy tire iron across his lap like a challenge.
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The two men stopped abruptly, realizing they had been outmaneuvered. One of them reached inside his jacket, his hand curling around something dark, but before he could draw his weapon, the wail of a distant police siren began to rise from the street above.
The clean-up crew cursed under their breath, turned on their heels, and vanished back up the ramp into the darkness.
