Chapter 2 - The Sound of Moving SteelThe sound of heavy tires screeching against concrete drifted up, muffled only by thick double-glazed glass. Down on the avenue, the convoy did not enter the visitor garage. They mounted the pedestrian plaza, tires smoking as they formed an impenetrable crescent around the revolving glass doors.
Upstairs, Arthur paced the cubicle row like a trapped predator, oblivious to the street. He shook his phone at Clara. "HR has already locked your credentials. Your digital key is terminated. If you aren't off this property in three minutes, I will have the municipal police charge you with trespassing and willful corporate disruption."
Clara couldn't respond. Another wave of labor hit her, deeper and more punishing. A groan escaped her clenched teeth, and she sank to her knees among the scattered white baby onesies.
Elena finally broke ranks, kneeling beside Clara and wrapping a steadying arm around her shivering shoulders. "Arthur, stop this madness! Look at her! She is in active labor!"
"Stay out of this, Elena, unless you want your desk cleared out by noon too," Arthur snapped back, entirely consumed by his tantrum of power.
Frank didn't say a word. Slowly, deliberately, he propped his mop against the yellow barrel cart. He reached into his grey maintenance jumpsuit and pulled out a small, encrypted radio receiver—an item vastly out of place for an office cleaner. He pressed the side button once, delivering two short clicks into the speaker.
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Downstairs, twelve men in dark suits and discreet earpieces stepped out of the SUVs. Leading them was Director Thomas Ward, former state prosecutor and current head of internal oversight for the Sterling Global Endowment—the conglomerate that secretly held sixty-two percent of Vanguard Holdings' equity.
The heavy thud of the elevator bank echoed down the corridor.
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