Chapter 5 - The Long Night
The rain returned to Manhattan by midnight, streaking the high glass windows of my private residence on the upper east side with long, weeping lines of water. The apartment was dark, save for the soft green glow of the security monitors in the hallway.
Lucas and Noah were finally asleep, curled up together in the guest bedroom, their small faces peaceful despite the storm raging across the city’s television networks.
I sat at the kitchen island, a glass of scotch untouched in front of me, staring at the digital file Marcus had compiled on the New York State Thruway accident. The report was brief: a black sedan had been forced off the road near Poughkeepsie at 2:14 AM on Tuesday morning. The vehicle had caught fire. One occupant had escaped into the surrounding woods before emergency services arrived. Blood samples found on the driver’s side airbag matched Grace’s profile.
She was alive. But she was running, wounded, and hunted by a corporation that had unlimited resources and no moral compass.
"Alex."
I looked up to see Marcus walking into the kitchen, his laptop open, his face pale under the kitchen pendants.
"Our legal block worked, but only temporarily," Marcus said, sliding the laptop across the marble counter. "The judge granted a forty-eight-hour stay on the Apex custody order, but they’ve invoked a national security clause. Because your Delta-9 sequence has implications for radiation resistance and biological defense, the Department of Defense has just issued an inquiry. They are sending a federal evaluation team here by Thursday morning."
"They're turning my sons into a matter of national security," I said, a cold laugh escaping my throat. "Evelyn Vance is smart. She knows she can't win the public relations war, so she’s hiding behind the government’s skirts."
"There’s something else," Marcus said, his voice dropping. "I ran a deep trace on the network traffic coming out of the Apex compound in Poughkeepsie before they took their servers offline. Grace didn't just run with the boys, Alex. She downloaded the entire clinical history of the Apex project. The master key for their genetic synthesis data. If we can get that drive, we don't just protect the boys—we ruin Apex permanently. We can prove they've been running illegal human trials for a decade."
"Where is she, Marcus?"
"The tracking data from her phone died near an old state park three miles from the crash site," Marcus said, bringing up a topographical map. "It’s dense forest, Alex. And it’s pouring out there. Apex has private retrieval teams on the ground right now, using thermal drones. If they find her before we do..."
I stood up, pushing the glass of scotch aside. The accident eight years ago had taken my legs, my future, and my sense of safety. But it had also given me something else—a body that refused to stop moving when the pressure became unbearable.
"Call Frank," I ordered, walking toward the hall closet to grab my heavy waterproof jacket. "Tell him to bring the armored suburban around to the service garage. We’re going to upstate New York."
May you like
"Alex, you can't leave the boys here alone," Marcus protested, following me. "The federal team—"
"Margaret is already here, and Frank’s top three operators are stationed inside the apartment with non-lethal authorization," I said, checking the tactical flashlight in my pocket. "The lawyers can argue over the paperwork until dawn. But Grace is out there in the woods, Marcus. And she’s waiting for me."
