Chapter 3 - The Ascent Through the Core
The stairwell behind the executive core was pitch black, illuminated only by the faint, rhythmic pulse of green emergency floor strips.
Celeste moved with a desperate, burning energy, her bare feet padding silently against the concrete steps. Every muscle in her legs ached from the sudden shift in posture, but she didn’t slow down. Behind her, Ethan moved like a ghost, his hand pressed against his wounded shoulder, his breathing controlled and even.
They were climbing. Not down to the lobby—where the main exits were undoubtedly being watched by whatever tactical unit had sent the hit squad—but up toward the private executive suites on the thirty-second floor, where Celeste’s private security office housed a hardened communications uplink.
“How many of them are there?” Celeste asked in a harsh whisper as they rounded the landing between the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth floors.
“At least a six-man cell,” Ethan replied, his voice dropping into her ear as he stayed close behind her to cover their rear. “Professional contractors. Former military, judging by their gear and CQB sweep patterns. This wasn't a random hit. Someone bought a very expensive, very lethal private army.”
“Vanguard Capital,” Celeste said, her teeth clenched as she pushed open the heavy fire door to the twenty-ninth floor. The cool, pressurized air of the upper offices washed over them. “Or Marcus Vance.”
Ethan paused for a fraction of a second, his footsteps halting on the linoleum. “Vance?”
“Marcus Vance,” Celeste repeated, glancing back at him as she led the way down the dimly lit hallway toward the emergency utility shaft. “The chairman of Vanguard. He’s been trying to force a hostile buyout of Ardent Veil for six months. I rejected his final offer last Tuesday. He threatened that I would regret it.”
A strange, unreadable shadow crossed Ethan’s hazel eyes. For a split second, a muscle ticked along his jawline, but he said nothing, simply nodding for her to keep moving.
They reached the heavy steel door marked *UTILITY ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY*.
Celeste reached into the pocket of her ruined skirt, pulled out her corporate access card, and swiped it against the digital reader.
The red light flickered. *ACCESS DENIED.*
She swore under her breath, swiping it again. The reader blinked stubbornly red.
“They’ve locked down the internal network,” Celeste said, frustration boiling over. “They must have hacked the master building mainframe from the basement server room. Every keycard in the building is disabled.”
Ethan stepped past her without a word. He knelt down beside the electronic lock box, pulled a small metal pick set from his tactical jacket pocket, and jammed two slim metal rods into the seams of the casing.
“You know how to pick commercial security locks?” Celeste asked, raising an eyebrow despite the dire situation.
“I know how to pick locks that are installed by the lowest bidder,” Ethan muttered.
*Click.*
With a sharp snap, the internal circuitry sparked, and the heavy steel door clicked open, popping outward with a hiss of pressurized air.
“After you, CEO,” Ethan said, gesturing with his head.
They slipped inside into the narrow maintenance corridor that ran behind the executive boardrooms. The walls were lined with thick bundles of fiber-optic cables, water pipes, and HVAC conduits. It was a labyrinth of shadows, echoing with the low, steady hum of the building’s primary environmental controls.
As they crept down the corridor toward the private elevator shaft that led directly to the penthouse, a sudden, metallic clank echoed from the floor above them.
*Footsteps.*
Heavy boots hitting the concrete stair landing just outside the maintenance door they had just left behind.
“They’re sweeping the upper levels,” Ethan whispered, grabbing Celeste’s elbow and pulling her flat against the cool metal surface of a massive air-conditioning duct.
Through the narrow gap between the pipes, they watched as the heavy maintenance door swung open. Two figures in tactical gear stepped into the corridor, their weapons raised, scanning the shadows with tactical flashlights.
The beam of light swept across the floor just three feet away from where Celeste and Ethan were standing.
Celeste held her breath, her heart hammering against her ribs so loudly that she was certain the mercenaries could hear it. She closed her eyes, pressing her shoulder against Ethan’s side. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, and the iron-scent of his fresh blood mixing with the dust in the air.
One of the mercenaries stopped right in front of their hiding spot. He lowered his weapon slightly, sniffing the air.
“Hey,” the mercenary muttered to his partner through his mask. “Did you smell that?”
“Smell what?”
“Copper. Iron.” The guard took a step closer, raising his flashlight directly toward the dark alcove where Celeste and Ethan stood frozen in the dark.
The beam of light inched closer—hitting the edge of Celeste’s shoe, then creeping up her ankle, moving toward her knees.
Ethan didn't hesitate.
With blinding speed, his left hand shot out from the shadows, grabbing the barrel of the mercenary’s rifle and jerking it downward with incredible force. At the same time, his right hand drove forward, slamming the heavy butt of his satellite communicator directly into the guard’s throat.
The guard choked out a muffled gasp, collapsing instantly.
Before the second mercenary could even raise his weapon, Ethan had already cleared the distance between them. He swept the second man’s legs out from under him with a brutal low kick, sending him crashing hard onto the concrete floor, and drove his boot down onto the man’s chest, knocking the wind out of him in a violent wheeze.
“Clear,” Ethan whispered into the dim corridor, his chest barely heaving.
Celeste let out a long, shaky breath, her knees trembling slightly. She looked at Ethan with a mixture of awe and absolute disbelief. “Who are you really?” she demanded softly. “You’re not just some random contractor who happened to be in the elevator.”
Ethan looked down at her, his expression unreadable in the dim green emergency light.
May you like
“Let’s get to your penthouse, Ms. Rowan,” Ethan said quietly. “Once we’re inside, I’ll answer all your questions. But right now... we have less than a minute before their main extraction team hits the roof.”
***
