Chapter 2 - The Lost Patent and the Ghost in the CodeA high-pitched ringing pierced my ears as red emergency lights began flashing down the school corridor. Principal Vance screamed, ducking under his heavy wooden desk, while Dr. Hart didn't even flinch. With terrifying speed, she grabbed me by the collar and shoved me behind the heavy oak bookshelf just as two men in tactical black gear swept through the broken window.
"Where is the drive, Elena?!" one of the masked men growled, his voice distorted by a voice modulator. "You can't hide project GENESIS behind a child!"
"Run, Leo!" Dr. Hart yelled, pulling a sleek, dark metallic cylinder from her coat and tossing it toward the hallway. A blinding flash of white light exploded, followed by an ear-splitting frequency pulse that knocked the intruders to their knees, clutching their helmets in agony.
I didn't think. Survival instinct took over. I bolted through the back door of the office, sliding past twisted metal and screaming students down the hallway, clutching my backpack and the heavy, cold object still sitting in my coat pocket.
I made it out to the alleyway behind the school, my lungs burning, the Manhattan winter air tearing through my throat. I ducked into an abandoned subway access tunnel three blocks away, collapsing against the cold concrete wall, trembling violently.
With shaking hands, I pulled out the object Dr. Hart had slipped into my coat during the sidewalk chaos.
It wasn't a phone. It was a encrypted drive shaped like an antique key, glowing with a pulsing blue circuit light. And carved into the steel casing were initials that made my blood run cold:
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E. V. – 2014.
Ethan Vance. My father. The man who had vanished ten years ago, presumed dead in a laboratory fire.
