Chapter 7 - The Gathering Storm
The rusted patrol boat sputtered and groaned as it cut through the rough waves of Lake Erie, eventually pulling into a secluded, overgrown inlet three miles down the coast from Fairport.
Ethan guided the vessel into the reeds, shutting down the engine before it could completely seize up.
The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the sound of the rain drumming against the metal cabin roof.
Claire sat on a wooden bench, her knees pulled to her chest, her body shivering violently from the cold and the adrenaline. Ethan walked over, wrapping a dry, grease-stained canvas tarp around her shoulders.
"Thank you," she whispered, her teeth chattering.
Ethan sat opposite her, his face pale, his shoulder throbbing from the cut he had received in the warehouse. "We can't go back to the Brierwood. Gary’s men will be watching it. And we can't go to the police yet. Gary has connections in the county sheriff's department."
"What about Nancy?" Claire asked, her eyes wide with sudden terror. "Grace is with her! Ethan... if Gary thinks we're going there—"
"He doesn't know Grace is there," Ethan said, though his own heart hammered at the thought. "And he wouldn't dare touch his own boss's grandmother while he’s trying to keep this quiet. But we need to get them out of Fairport. Tonight."
Claire looked down at her hands, the elegant manicured nails now chipped and covered in black grease. "Ethan... why did you save me? After what I did to you... after I destroyed your life... you should have left me in that warehouse."
Ethan looked at her. The anger that had sustained him for ten months seemed to have burned itself out in the dust of the shipyard.
"I didn't save you because of who you are, Claire," Ethan said quietly. "I saved you because it was the right thing to do. And because... I know what it’s like to lose everything. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even the woman who fired me."
Claire let out a ragged sob, burying her face in her hands. "I was so stupid. I thought if I just kept the company profitable, if I kept my father's name in the news for the right reasons, everything would be okay. I didn't want to see the truth. I didn't want to see that Gary was a monster."
"He’s a symptom of a larger disease, Claire," Ethan said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But you're the one who can cure it. We need to get the original data from the Cleveland server. The raw data that shows the forged signatures."
"The server room is biometric," Claire said, looking up, her eyes shining with determination. "Only my handprint and Gary's can access the primary database. If we can get into the Cleveland facility—"
"We can download the raw files and send them directly to the federal safety board," Ethan finished. "But it's a suicide mission if Gary’s security team is waiting for us."
"They won't be expecting us to break into the company," Claire pointed out, a small, fierce smile appearing on her face. "They think we're running. They think we're trying to hide."
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"Then let’s show them we're done running," Ethan said.
They left the boat in the reeds and walked through the dark woods toward the highway. By midnight, they had reached the outskirts of Cleveland, the towering glass facade of Bennett Aerotech looming in the distance like a fortress of steel and secrets.
