Robert Blackwood marched through the VIP corridors, his polished leather shoes striking the linoleum like gunfire. Beside him walked Grace Walker, her hands tucked deep into the pockets of a worn trench coat, and twelve-year-old Lily, whose small hand held a scratched metal thermos as if it contained the secret to the universe.

In the shadows across the street, Robert monitored the building’s security cameras through a cloned satellite feed. Julian’s private security had established a perimeter around the main lobby, but the rooftop maintenance access remained unguarded.

"Lily, do you read me?" Robert whispered into his headset.

"I'm in the main vent," Lily’s voice came back, quiet and steady, through the static. "It smells like bleach and cheap coffee."

"You're directly above the Level 4 Bio-Lab," Grace instructed from the van. "Look for the red seal valve. That’s the oxygen line for the bio-reactor. You need to drop the catalyst into the secondary chamber."

Inside the cramped metallic duct, Lily crawled on her hands and knees, dragging a small thermal pouch behind her. Below her, through the brass ventilation grates, she could see scientists in hazmat suits frantically packing up files and sealing glass vials into steel storage crates.

Julian Vance was standing in the middle of the room, speaking angrily into a satellite phone.

"I don't care where Robert is!" Julian barked. "Purge the servers! Wipe the Level 4 database completely! If the FDA sees those original trial logs from four years ago, we’re all going to federal prison!"

Lily froze. She was lying directly above Julian.

She pulled out her pocket knife and slowly unscrewed the vent grate. The tiny metal screws came away quietly, one by one. She reached into her pouch, pulling out the small vial of synthesized catalyst Grace had prepared.

Clink.

A screw slipped from her fingers.

It fell through the vent, bouncing off Julian’s shoulder and clattering onto the sterile floor.

Julian stopped mid-sentence. He slowly looked up toward the ceiling.

"Who’s up there?" Julian ordered, drawing a pistol from inside his jacket. "Guard! Check the duct!"

"Lily, get out of there! Now!" Robert screamed over the comms.

"I'm not leaving without the compound!" Lily hissed.

She kicked the vent grate wide open, dropping six feet down onto the heavy steel table right in front of Julian. Before the guards could react, she grabbed the master synthesis bottle containing the pure Lazarus-7 concentrate, threw her small body across the floor, and slammed the lab's emergency seal button.

Heavy blast doors slid down with a deafening thud, trapping Julian and his guards inside the lab control room, while Lily stood outside in the corridor with the cure in her hands.