Chapter 6 - Unspoken Words
""Elena!"" Clara's cry was lost beneath the roar of diesel engines and the hiss of water vaporizing against scorched masonry.
She lunged past a firefighter’s arm, dropping to her knees beside the gurney. The woman on the stretcher coughed violently, her eyes fluttering open beneath the plastic oxygen mask. Through soot and tangled brown hair, Elena looked up, squinting through tears of agony and relief.
""Clara...?"" Elena's voice was a cracked whisper beneath the rubber diaphragm.
""I'm here. I'm right here,"" Clara wept, taking Elena’s blistered hand between her trembling palms, utterly heedless of the ash staining her silk shirt. ""I'm so sorry. I should have come sooner. I should have seen what he was doing.""
Elena tightened her fingers weakly. Her knuckles were bruised, and soot coated the crevices of her fingernails. ""He sent... two men. Not one. They wanted the digital backup... the drive you mailed last week.""
Clara’s mind reeled. She hadn't mailed any drive. The system had been configured to send automated data over encrypted cloud relays, not through the postal service.
Before Clara could speak, Elena pointed a trembling finger toward the perimeter tape where a small crowd of displaced neighbors had gathered under the drizzle.
Standing beneath the shadow of a wide oak tree stood a man in a wet trench coat, watching the gurney with cold detachment. He wasn't watching the fire. He was watching Elena's hands.
Clara’s breath hitched. Julian had two partners in the offshore syndicate: his private accountant and an enforcer named Silas.
May you like
The man under the tree reached inside his coat, his eyes locking onto Clara with chilling clarity. He pulled out a black burner phone, tapped the screen twice, and lifted it to his ear.
Inside Clara's pocket, Julian's confiscated transmitter began to beep with a rapid, high-pitched frequency that hadn't sounded before.
