Chapter 15 - The ghost of the past
The deafening roar of gunfire filled the small cabin of the car as Julian expertly shot out the front left tire of the leading SUV. The massive vehicle swerved violently across the wet highway, flipping completely over and crashing into a deep concrete ditch in a spectacular shower of sparks and twisting metal. The second SUV immediately slammed on its brakes, falling back into the dark storm. Julian pulled himself back inside, his arm bleeding profusely from a grazing bullet wound. "We have to ditch this car and change vehicles, they are tracking our license plates," he gasped, wrapping a tight cloth tourniquet around his bicep. We pulled into a deserted, dimly lit truck stop twenty miles down the interstate. Julian paid a terrified truck driver ten thousand dollars in cash for the keys to a rusted, unassuming blue sedan. As we merged back onto the highway, completely undetected, I finally had a moment to process the absolute insanity of my reality.
"We need a permanent solution, Julian," I said, staring fiercely at my newfound brother. "We cannot spend the rest of our lives running from Victor's private army." Julian gripped the steering wheel tightly. "The only way to stop him is to destroy his empire, and the only person who knows how to decrypt Arthur's master ledger is sitting in federal prison." I stared at him, my blood running completely cold. "Eleanor," I whispered. "She was Arthur's wife for two decades before she betrayed him. She knows the cipher," Julian confirmed. The very thought of seeing the woman who raised me with pure hatred, the woman who tried to burn my daughter alive, made me physically nauseous. But if she held the key to destroying Victor Sterling and saving Lila's life, I had absolutely no choice. The next morning, as the sun began to rise over the dreary landscape, we pulled into the heavily fortified visitor parking lot of the federal maximum-security penitentiary. I left Lila asleep in the locked car with Julian standing guard, heavily armed. I walked through the metal detectors and into the harsh, sterile visitation room, sitting across from the thick bulletproof glass. The heavy steel door on the other side opened, and Eleanor walked in, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, her eyes practically burning with absolute malice.
