Chapter 11
"Ninety-five percent," Marcus muttered, his breath hitching as the heavy footsteps outside drew dangerously close to the security room door.
Clara stepped back inside the threshold, her hand instinctively resting over the covered baby carrier where Leo slept against her chest. She braced herself to fight if she had to—she would use everything she had to protect her son.
"Ninety-nine percent... Done!" Marcus cried out, ripping the small encrypted flash drive from the master terminal just as the doorknob began to turn.
Without a second thought, Marcus and Clara bolted through the emergency exit on the opposite side of the control room, tumbling into a narrow maintenance corridor just as the security guard stepped into the main console room. The heavy steel door clicked shut behind them, cutting off the guard's shouts of confusion.
They sprinted down the dimly lit service corridor, following the green exit signs until they burst back out into the damp subterranean parking garage. Marcus’s sedan was parked just twenty yards away. They scrambled into the car, slamming the doors shut, and Marcus hit the ignition, peeling out of the parking structure into the rainy night just as two security carts rushed toward the area they had just vacated.
Once they were safely navigating the city streets miles away from the hospital, Marcus finally let out a triumphant laugh, holding up the tiny black flash drive between his thumb and forefinger. "We got it, Clara. Every single byte of data. Admission logs, Arthur's signed financial disclosures, Eleanor's email correspondence directing the hospital administration to initiate the phantom protocol. It's an airtight paper trail."
Clara let out a long, shuddering breath, the immense weight of the past forty-eight hours finally settling into her bones. She pulled down her hood, gently unzipping the carrier to check on Leo. The baby blinked up at her with bright, clear eyes, letting out a soft, contented coo. He had slept through the entire escape.
"What do we do with it now?" Clara asked, looking over at Marcus. "If we just take this to the local police, we don't know who’s on Eleanor's payroll. We need a broader platform—someone who can't be bought off with corporate donations."
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Marcus nodded thoughtfully, tapping the steering wheel. "You're right. Local authorities are too easily compromised by the Sterling family's political influence. But federal regulatory agencies and national news syndicates—that's a different story. I have a contact at the federal district attorney's office who specializes in corporate corruption and civil rights violations. If we hand this directly to her, accompanied by a sworn affidavit from you, they'll have to launch a federal investigation."
"Let's do it," Clara said without a moment of hesitation. "Let's end this once and for all."
