Chapter 5 - The Glass Fortress
They emerged from a grated manhole cover two blocks away, soaked in freezing rain and gasping for air. Julian’s truck was parked a few streets over. He got Clara inside, cranked the heat, and peeled away into the Chicago night.
“Where are we going?” Clara asked, clutching her stomach. “We can’t go to the police. Victor owns the precinct captains.”
“I know,” Julian said, his eyes scanning the rearview mirror. “We’re going to my turf.”
He drove them into the heart of downtown, pulling up to a massive, unfinished skyscraper that pierced the cloudy sky. It was the Orion Tower—a 60-story luxury high-rise currently under construction. Julian was the foreman for the electrical crew on the site. It was currently a skeleton of steel, concrete, and exposed wiring, abandoned for the night.
Julian bypassed the security gate with his master key and drove the truck straight into the underground parking garage.
He helped Clara into the freight elevator and used his override key to take them to the 45th floor. It was an empty concrete shell wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, offering a panoramic view of the glittering city below.
Julian set up a makeshift bed using heavy moving blankets and his own dry clothes for Clara. He handed her a bottle of water and some crackers from his lunch cooler.
“Rest,” he commanded gently. “The baby needs you calm.”
“They’ll track your truck, Julian,” Clara warned, shivering. “Victor’s tech guys are ruthless. They’ll look at the hospital cameras, see your face, run your plates, and track the GPS.”
“I’m counting on it,” Julian said softly.
Clara stared at him, bewildered. “You want them to come here?”
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Julian unclipped his heavy leather toolbelt and dropped it onto a concrete pillar with a heavy thud. He pulled out a spool of raw copper wire, a voltage meter, and a heavy wrench.
“They think I’m just some guy with a screwdriver,” Julian said, his eyes hardening into something dark and dangerous. “But this building has millions of volts of raw electricity pumping through its veins. And I am the one who controls its heartbeat. Let Victor come. I’m going to fry him.”
