Chapter 4 - The Erased Evidence
I turned around and ran frantically back toward the glass elevator.
I had to get to the police precinct and warn Hector before Richard's assassins got to him.
"You will never make it in time, Julian," Richard's arrogant voice echoed behind me.
I slammed my fist against the elevator buttons until the doors finally closed.
When I reached the ground floor, I jumped into a taxi and shouted the address of the federal jail.
My phone buzzed in my pocket with an urgent text message from Professor Vance.
The message told me not to go to the jail because Hector had already been moved.
I redirected the taxi driver to the university campus immediately.
I found Professor Vance hiding in the dark basement of the structural engineering laboratory.
He was frantically typing on a secure computer terminal when I burst into the room.
"Professor, Richard just ordered a hit on Hector inside the prison!" I shouted.
Vance did not look away from the glowing computer screen.
"Hector is not in the prison anymore, Julian," the professor replied nervously.
"I used my government contacts to secretly transfer him to a safe house," Vance explained.
A massive wave of relief washed over my exhausted body.
"But we have a much bigger problem now," the professor warned, turning the monitor toward me.
The digital university database containing all my raw thesis data was completely blank.
"Someone hacked the university servers and wiped every single piece of evidence against Sterling," Vance said.
All the structural stress tests and material analyses I had spent years gathering were gone.
Without that data, I could not prove that Richard's new hospital was going to collapse.
"Do you have a backup drive?" I asked desperately.
The professor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, silver flash drive.
"This is the only remaining copy of your work in existence," Vance whispered, handing it to me.
I closed my hand tightly around the cold metal drive.
Suddenly, a bright red laser dot appeared on the center of the professor's chest.
May you like
Before I could even scream, the glass window shattered violently.
A sniper bullet struck Professor Vance directly in the shoulder, throwing him to the floor.
