Chapter 6 - The Corporate Lab
Lily's breathing grew incredibly shallow and ragged as the terrible poison ravaged her small body.
"We have to get her to a hospital right now!" I screamed, completely abandoning any fear of the mercenaries outside.
"A public hospital will not know how to treat a proprietary military-grade toxin," Nathaniel stated grimly.
He picked Lily up gently, cradling her burning body against his soaked, ruined tuxedo.
"We are going to break into my company's primary research laboratory in downtown Chicago."
"They have an experimental universal antidote in the secure vault that can neutralize this specific compound."
We crept out of the rotting motel and managed to steal an old, rusted pickup truck parked behind a nearby diner.
Nathaniel hotwired the engine expertly, and we sped aggressively back toward the glowing skyline of the city.
The drive felt like an absolute eternity, every passing minute stealing another precious breath from my dying child.
We finally reached the towering glass skyscraper that housed the Cross Meridian biomedical division.
Nathaniel bypassed the front security desk entirely by using a hidden service entrance in the underground loading dock.
He used his retinal scan to unlock the heavy steel doors leading directly into the sterile, white laboratory floor.
We rushed toward the massive, climate-controlled vault at the very center of the expansive room.
Nathaniel typed a complex sixty-character password into the keypad, and the heavy vault door hissed open.
He grabbed a small, silver metallic case containing a single vial of glowing blue liquid.
"I have the antidote," Nathaniel announced, a massive wave of relief washing over his tired face.
He turned around to hand me the medicine, but the laboratory lights suddenly snapped on with a blinding glare.
Vanessa was sitting casually in a sleek leather office chair at the far end of the room.
She was flanked by eight heavily armed tactical guards who immediately raised their weapons at us.
"You always were remarkably predictable when it came to saving strays, Nathaniel," Vanessa smirked cruelly.
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She held up a small detonator switch, her thumb resting dangerously over the red button.
"Put the vial down, or I will blow this entire floor into a million pieces."
