Chapter 7 - THE STAIRWELL ASCENSION
The stairwell echoed with the terrifying sound of heavy boots slamming against metal grates.
Marcus was fast, fueled by the cold fury of a professional who had been outsmarted twice.
“Keep moving,” Adrian pushed Nora upward. His face was ash-white, sweat beading on his forehead. Every step was agony, but he refused to stop.
Nora carried Leo, her muscles screaming in protest. The boy buried his face in her neck, terrified into silence. They were climbing from the sub-basement, but the roof was forty-eight floors away. They would never make it on foot.
“We need an elevator,” Nora gasped, bursting onto the fifth-floor landing.
“Vivienne locked the system,” Adrian panted, leaning heavily against the concrete wall. “They’ll only go where she tells them.”
“Not the freight elevator,” Nora said, her eyes lighting up. “It runs on an analog relay. My dad used to fix it. You just need a manual override key.”
Adrian pulled a ring of brass keys from his pocket. “Will these work?”
Nora grabbed them. “Yes.”
They dragged themselves out of the stairwell and into the fifth-floor service corridor. The massive steel doors of the freight elevator stood shut at the end of the hall.
Behind them, the stairwell door slammed open.
Marcus stepped out. He didn’t run. He walked with the terrifying patience of a predator who knew his prey was cornered.
He raised his gun.
“Get in!” Nora screamed, jamming the brass key into the wall panel and twisting it hard.
The freight doors groaned open. Nora shoved Leo inside, then grabbed Adrian by his good arm, hauling him into the car.
Marcus fired.
The bullet shattered the concrete wall inches from Nora’s head, spraying her with sharp dust. She threw herself into the elevator just as the heavy doors slammed shut.
Clang.
Nora hit the button for the roof. The old elevator lurched upward, protesting loudly.
She collapsed on the floor next to Adrian, pulling Leo into her lap. The boy was trembling violently.
“It’s okay, baby,” Nora whispered, kissing his forehead. “I’ve got you.”
Adrian watched her. His breathing was shallow, his eyes glassy. “You’re a good sister, Nora.”
“Don’t talk. Save your strength.”
“If I don’t make it—”
“Shut up, Adrian,” Nora snapped, tears blurring her vision. “You’re my brother. We just found out. You are not dying on me.”
Adrian smiled weakly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tiny, tightly rolled micro-film from the spoon. He pressed it into Nora’s hand.
“When we get to the roof... the pilot is loyal to me,” Adrian whispered. “His name is Carter. Tell him to take you to the FBI field office in Manhattan. Give this to Director Vance.”
“Vance?” Nora frowned. “Wait. Marcus’s last name is Vance.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Director Thomas Vance. Marcus’s brother. He’s the one Vivienne has been bribing to keep the Laurent family clean. When he sees this proof... he’ll have to arrest his own brother, or go down with him.”
The elevator rattled as it passed the fortieth floor.
Suddenly, with a violent, grinding screech, the elevator lurched to a dead stop.
The lights flickered and died.
Emergency red lights clicked on.
“What happened?” Leo cried out.
Nora scrambled to her feet, pressing the buttons. Nothing.
“Vivienne,” Adrian coughed. “She must have found the breaker for the freight shaft.”
They were stuck between the forty-fifth and forty-sixth floors. Three floors away from the roof.
Nora looked up. The emergency escape hatch in the ceiling of the elevator car.
She climbed onto the metal handrail, pushing the hatch open. Cool air blew down from the shaft.
“I can get up there,” Nora said. “I can open the doors on the forty-sixth floor from the outside. But I can’t pull you up, Adrian.”
“I’ll stay,” Adrian said firmly. “Take the boy. Get to the roof.”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“Nora, listen to me!” Adrian grabbed her arm, his grip surprisingly strong. “Vivienne wants the company, but she needs me dead to get it. If she finds me here, she’ll gloat. That buys you time to get to the chopper.”
Before Nora could argue, a loud, metallic banging echoed through the elevator shaft.
Someone was climbing the cables from below.
Marcus.
“Go!” Adrian roared.
Nora hoisted Leo up through the hatch, then pulled herself onto the roof of the elevator car. She reached the steel doors of the forty-sixth floor, digging her fingers into the gap and prying them apart with all her strength.
She pushed Leo onto the floor, pulling herself up just as the elevator car below them shuddered.
Through the open doors, Nora looked down.
She saw the hatch open. She saw Adrian looking up at her.
And then, a terrifying sound echoed through the shaft.
The sound of the elevator brakes disengaging.
Vivienne hadn’t just cut the power. She had cut the emergency brakes.
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The elevator car, with Adrian inside, began to free-fall into the dark abyss.
Nora screamed.
