Chapter 6 - The Manhattan Skyline
The helicopter touched down on a private rooftop helipad high above Manhattan twelve hours later.
By the time the heavy cabin doors slid open, the gray drizzle of Ohio had been replaced by the towering, glittering spires of New York City under a cold, starless dawn. The wind up here was fierce, snapping the edges of my oversized wool coat—which one of Harrison’s aides had handed me during the flight—against my shins.
Ethan was stable, resting comfortably in a private medical suite on the lower level of the Cole Tower, hooked up to diagnostic equipment that looked more like a NASA lab than a hospital room.
I stood at the edge of the glass-walled penthouse office, staring down at the endless rivers of yellow cabs crawling through the concrete canyons far below. My entire life had been compressed into a single, terrifying week. The diner, the tips, the endless rent notices—they felt like memories from a different lifetime.
"You’re quiet," a voice said behind me.
I turned. Harrison had changed into a fresh charcoal suit, though the faint bruise on his temple still lingered as a reminder of the highway ambush. He was holding two cups of black coffee, extending one toward me.
I didn't take it. "How many people know we're here?"
"My security detail, the medical staff, and no one else," Harrison said, setting the cups down on a minimalist glass table. He walked over to stand beside me, looking out at the skyline. "Which means we have approximately twelve hours before the board of directors realizes the data drive was recovered."
"And when they realize?"
"They’ll try to neutralize us," he said without a single trace of hesitation. "Project Janus isn't just a rogue research division, Claire. It’s a multi-billion-dollar black-budget syndicate that has spent two decades embedding itself inside government contracts and pharmaceutical supply chains. If they get their hands on that formula, they control global healthcare. If we release it, their entire empire collapses overnight."
"Then release it," I said sharply, turning to face him. "What are we waiting for? Broadcast it to the world. Put it on the news. Let everyone see what they did!"
"It doesn't work that way," Harrison sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a tired hand. "The system is too deeply entrenched. If we just dump the files onto the public net, their PR machine will spin it as a cyber-terrorist attack, lock down the servers, and have us arrested or killed before sunrise. We need physical proof. We need the original physical lab records."
"Where are they?"
Harrison looked at me, a strange, heavy expression crossing his face.
"Underneath our ancestral estate in the Hamptons. In the vault my uncle built before he disappeared."
"Then what are we still doing standing here?" I demanded, the last remnants of my patience snapping like dry twigs. "Let's go."
Before Harrison could answer, the secure comms panel on the mahogany desk chimed with a harsh, double-beep.
His lead security officer’s voice crackled through the speaker, strained and breathless.
"Mr. Cole! We have a breach in the lower medical bay! Someone’s bypassed the biometric locks on Ethan’s room!"
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My heart stopped.
"Ethan!" I screamed, spinning around and sprinting toward the penthouse elevator before Harrison could even draw his breath.
