Chapter 13 - The Escape Through the Tunnels
The damp air of the drainage tunnel smelled of old brick, wet earth, and rushing rainwater. Claire and Marcus crawled side by side through the narrow brick-lined conduit, their flashlights cutting through the thick, swirling mist. Every movement echoed loudly in the confined space, the sound of dripping water mixing with their steady, controlled breathing.
"How much further?" Marcus muttered, ducking his head beneath a low archway of ancient red bricks.
"About fifty yards," Claire called back over her shoulder, her voice echoing down the pipe. "The drainage outlet empties out right behind the municipal parking garage on Fourth Street. Exactly where our rented sedan was totaled."
When they finally reached the end of the brick tunnel, a rusted iron grating blocked the opening, leading out into the cool, open air of the alleyway behind the garage. Marcus pushed against the loosened grating with his shoulder until it gave way with a loud metallic crash, tumbling out onto the wet asphalt.
They scrambled out of the tunnel, coughing slightly from the damp air, and stood up in the shadows of a brick wall. The sky overhead was darkening into twilight, painting the clouds in shades of bruised purple and gray.
"We need to get to the federal prosecutor’s office before midnight," Claire said, brushing a streak of soot off her charcoal blazer. She pulled her smartphone from her pocket— miraculously, as soon as they cleared the tunnel grating, the signal bars had jumped back to full strength.
Her phone immediately buzzed with a dozen missed call notifications and an urgent text message from Special Agent Miller: Urgent: Julian Vance’s defense team just filed an emergency motion to suppress the initial audit file based on a procedural technicality. Judge Harrison is holding a closed-door chambers hearing in one hour.
Claire looked down at the vintage leather ledger she had managed to tuck securely beneath her arm before crawling through the tunnel.
"An emergency chambers hearing," Claire said, a cold smile touching the corners of her lips. "Julian thinks he can buy his way out on a technicality before the grand jury convenes tomorrow morning."
Marcus flagged down a passing taxi at the end of the alley, holding the door open for her. "Then we crash the chambers hearing."
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Twenty minutes later, the taxi pulled up to the grand entrance of the federal courthouse. Claire stepped out, her posture immaculate, her dark hair still tied back neatly despite the underground ordeal. She walked through the heavy security scanners without breaking stride, the heavy leather ledger gripped tightly in her hand like a sword.
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