Chapter 5 - The Iron Bridge
The rain had turned into a torrent, drumming mercilessly against the rusted girders of the 5th Street Railway Bridge.
Katherine Vance—formerly Rachel Carter— knelt in the mud beneath the concrete pillar, holding her bleeding side with one hand and her small firearm with the other.
Two yards away lay the body of a contractor who had tried to corner her fifteen minutes earlier. But two more were advancing down the embankment, their laser sights cutting crimson lines through the thick curtain of rain.
"Give it up, Katherine!" a voice boomed through a megaphone from the top of the embankment.
A sleek, black armored SUV sat perched on the ridge, its headlights shining down like twin searchlights, blinding her. The rear door opened, and a man in an expensive tailored coat stepped out, holding an open black umbrella.
Julian Thorne.
Her husband. The billionaire founder of Thorne Biometrics.
"You’ve been running for three long years, my dear," Julian said, his smooth, cultured voice carrying effortlessly over the sound of the wind and rain. "Look at you. Living in fire-gutted tenements, working night shifts under fake names, watching our son slowly waste away. Was it worth it?"
"You poisoned our boy!" Katherine screamed, her voice breaking with hatred and agony. "You used a chemical weapon on your own son just to force me out!"
"Eli is my heir," Julian replied coolly, stepping down the muddy slope while his guards covered him. "He was never in any real danger—until you took him to that cheap municipal hospital. If you had brought him back to me, to my private facility, I would have administered the cure immediately. You chose this suffering for him, Katherine. Not me."
"He is not a guinea pig for your defense contracts!" Katherine spat, raising her pistol.
Julian didn't even flinch. "You have no bullets left, Katherine. I counted the shots from the warehouse."
Katherine pulled the trigger. Click.
Julian smiled, stepping into the mud before her. He reached down, grabbing her roughly by the chin, forcing her to look up into his cold, calculating blue eyes.
"Where is the flash drive?" Julian asked softly. "Where are the clinical test records of the V-77 trials?"
"It’s already at St. Matthew’s," Katherine wheezed, blood dripping from her chin onto his pristine leather gloves. "And your men are already dead or arrested."
May you like
Julian’s smile vanished. He raised his hand to strike her, but before his arm could descend, the glaring white searchlight of a police helicopter swept across the riverbank.
"THIS IS THE STATE POLICE!" a voice thundered from the sky. "GROUND YOUR WEAPONS IMMEDIATELY! SURROUND THE VEHICLE!"
