Chapter 24 - The High-Speed Chase
"We’ve been burned!" Tessa shouted, abandoning her post by the door and sprinting toward the desk. "The server flagged the download!"
The progress bar hit *100%* just as the flash drive ejected itself with a sharp click. Calder snatched it off the USB port a fraction of a second before the entire office lighting system snapped from amber to blinding, flashing emergency red. Sirens began to wail through the ceiling vents.
"Move, move, move!" Calder yelled, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the private exit stairwell at the back of the office.
We burst into the concrete stairwell just as the heavy floor doors on the other side of the executive suite blew open, echoing with the shouts of armed private security guards. "Stop right there! Federal property!" a voice bellowed from above.
"Like hell we will!" Tessa yelled back, ripping off her designer heels so she could run in her stocking feet.
We tore down the stairs—forty-two flights of concrete and steel, our footsteps echoing in a chaotic rhythm. My heart hammered against my ribs, and a sharp, familiar cramp began to stitch across my side, but I forced my legs to move. I couldn't stop. Not now. Not when we were this close to exposing Eleanor’s entire criminal enterprise.
We hit the underground loading dock breathless, our lungs burning with cold air. Calder threw open the heavy steel exit door, leading us out into the damp Seattle alleyway where we had parked his truck.
As we scrambled into the cab of the Ford F-150, the screech of tires echoed from the mouth of the alley. Two sleek black SUVs roared around the corner, their high-beam headlights blinding us in the dark.
"Hold on!" Calder roared, slamming the truck into reverse, burning rubber as he spun the heavy vehicle around in a tight, cinematic arc.
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"They're ramming us!" Tessa screamed from the back seat as the first SUV slammed its reinforced front bumper into our rear quarter-panel with a sickening metallic crunch.
Calder didn't hesitate. He slammed the gas pedal to the floor, launching the truck forward down the narrow alleyway just as a hail of rubber warning bullets pinged off our tailgate. He blasted through a wooden shipping gate, shattering it into splinters, and burst out onto the main boulevard, disappearing into the chaotic labyrinth of night traffic before the security guards could recover.
