Chapter 2 - The Lockdown
Claire stared at the two massive security guards, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," she stammered, her voice trembling slightly.
Ethan crossed his arms, his jaw clenched so tightly she could see the muscle ticking.
"My entire research and development database was just downloaded onto an external drive," he explained with lethal calmness.
"I just walked into this building ten minutes ago," Claire fired back, her shock finally turning into defensive anger.
She dumped the contents of her leather purse directly onto his pristine mahogany desk to prove her innocence.
Lipstick, a cheap phone, a wallet, and a worn leather sketchbook spilled across the polished wood.
Ethan reached toward the pile, his eyes instantly locking onto the old sketchbook.
"Don't touch that," Claire warned, stepping forward instinctively.
Ethan ignored her, flipping open the cover to reveal pages filled with intricate, delicate drawings of trees with perfectly straight trunks.
His breath hitched in his throat, a sudden wave of dizzying childhood memory hitting him like a physical blow.
He remembered a hospital, the smell of antiseptic, and a little girl sitting on a linoleum floor.
Before he could process the impossible coincidence, the office building's emergency alarms began to shriek violently.
Thick metal shutters suddenly slammed down over the floor-to-ceiling windows, plunging the room into darkness.
The red emergency lights flickered on, casting an eerie glow over Ethan's pale face.
"Sir, the building has been completely compromised," one of the guards shouted over the deafening sirens.
Ethan grabbed Claire's arm with a grip like steel, pulling her behind his massive desk.
"Someone is not just stealing my data," Ethan realized, pulling a hidden handgun from his desk drawer.
"They are trying to trap us inside while they erase the physical servers on the floor below."
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Claire gasped as the heavy wooden doors of the office were suddenly kicked completely off their hinges.
Three men in black tactical gear stepped into the room with assault rifles raised.
