Chapter 16 - Poison in the Veins
The Miller Skyscraper towered eighty stories over the frozen expanse of Lake Michigan, a monolith of glass and steel built on a foundation of lies.
I used Frank’s high-clearance keycard to bypass the security gates in the underground parking garage, riding the private freight elevator down past the basement levels into Sub-Level 4—a level that didn't exist on any public architectural blueprint.
The elevator doors slid open with a heavy hydraulic hiss, revealing a sterile, concrete bunker lit by humming red emergency lights.
"Sarah!" my voice echoed off the damp concrete walls.
At the far end of the hallway, behind a thick reinforced bulletproof glass partition, was Sarah. She was tied to an iron chair, an IV drip hooked into her arm, pumping a dark amber fluid into her bloodstream.
She lifted her head weakly, her eyes widening in horror as she saw me through the glass.
"Charles... no!" she screamed through the intercom speaker, her voice hoarse. "Get out! It’s a trap! The countdown is already active!"
On the wall above the vault door, a red digital clock read: 00:08:42... 00:08:41...
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I slammed my fist against the bulletproof glass. "I'm not leaving you again, Sarah! Never again!"
"You don't understand!" she wept, blood beginning to trickle from her nose—the same terrifying symptom from Miami. "The IV... it’s the synthetic toxin Marcus developed. They need my blood to authorize the vault's self-destruct override! It’s coded to my mutated DNA!"
