CHAPTER 6
1277 Words
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*Chapter 6 - Broadcast*
Mara’s fingers didn’t stop.
Click. Click. Click.
Files uploaded. Videos. Bank records. Audio.
Every piece of proof Damian spent a year collecting.
The laundromat was silent except for the hum of the old dryers and the sound of keys.
Outside, the sirens were getting closer.
“How long?” Damian asked. He was standing at the window, peeking through the blinds. Blood still dried on his temple.
“Twelve minutes,” Mara said without looking up. “To encrypt. To mirror. To send to 40 news outlets and 200 journalists at once. If they take one server down, 39 more go live.”
“And if they find us before then?” I asked. My voice was steady. I was surprised by that.
Mara finally looked at me. “Then we don’t get to see what happens next.”
The USB sat on the desk. No more blue light. Just dead. Its job was done.
Damian turned from the window. “We need a way out. After this goes live, every Vant in the city will be looking for us.”
“I have a tunnel,” Mara said. “Leads to the subway. Old maintenance shaft. My exit plan.”
“Of course you do,” Damian muttered.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The sound was too loud in the quiet.
Both of them looked at me.
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “It’s just... a week ago I was worried about my rent. Now I’m in a secret laundromat waiting to take down a billionaire.”
Damian’s mouth twitched. “Welcome to my life.”
The computer dinged.
`UPLOAD COMPLETE. SCHEDULED RELEASE: 03:30 AM`
Mara leaned back. “It’s done. In 8 minutes, the world sees everything.”
The room felt heavier.
Damian sat down across from me. Close. Our knees almost touched. “You okay?”
“No,” I said honestly. “But I will be.”
He nodded. Like he understood.
The sirens stopped.
Not faded. Stopped.
All three of us froze.
Mara stood slowly. “That’s not good.”
Damian was already at the window again. “Three black SUVs. No lights. Parked across the street.”
My stomach dropped. “The Vant.”
“They’re not coming in yet,” Mara said. “They’re waiting.”
“For what?” I whispered.
“For 3:30,” Damian said. His voice was flat. “They want to see if the leak actually happens. If it does, they get orders to kill us. If it doesn’t, they take us in alive.”
Mara started packing things. Hard drives. A laptop. Cash. “Tunnel. Now.”
We moved.
Behind the back wall, a door. Behind the door, stairs. Down. Down. Into darkness that smelled like rust and water.
Mara led with a flashlight. Damian behind me. His hand on my back.
We walked for what felt like forever. Water dripped. Rats scurried.
My phone buzzed.
I almost threw it.
Unknown number.
`3:29. Last chance. Come out. Or we burn it down. -V`
I showed it to Damian.
He read it and his jaw tightened. “They know we’re underground. They’re tracking phones.”
Mara stopped. “Phones off. Now.”
We powered them down.
Darkness again.
The air felt thick. Like right before a storm.
`03:30 AM`
Above us, nothing.
Then Mara’s burner, left on the table, lit up. Once.
A text from a number she didn’t know:
`IT’S LIVE.`
Mara smiled. Cold. “It’s done.”
For a second, nothing happened.
Then chaos.
Above us, a boom.
Not an explosion. A door. Kicked in.
Shouts. Running.
“They’re in,” Damian said. “Go.”
We ran.
The tunnel sloped up. Toward a grate. Toward air.
Behind us, footsteps. Heavy. Fast.
Mara got to the grate first. She pushed. It didn’t move.
“s**t. Rusted shut.” She pulled a crowbar from her bag and jammed it in.
The footsteps were closer.
Damian turned. Pulled the gun from his jacket.
“Don’t,” I said. “They’ll kill you.”
“They’ll kill all of us if I don’t,” he said quietly.
The grate screeched. Moved an inch.
More footsteps. Closer. A flashlight beam hit the wall behind us.
“Freeze!”
Damian didn’t. He fired. Once. The light went out.
A yell.
“Go!” he shouted.
Mara heaved. The grate flew open. Rain hit my face.
We climbed out into an alley.
Damian came last, pulling the grate shut behind him.
We ran.
Sirens again. But different. Police. Real police. Not Vant.
Because the news was live.
I pulled out my phone before Damian could stop me. Turned it on.
Notifications. Hundreds.
`BREAKING: VEXCORP CEO LINKED TO CRIMINAL SYNDICATE`
`LEAKED FILES SHOW CITY-WIDE CORRUPTION`
`PROJECT NIGHTFALL: WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU`
Videos were already playing. My face wasn’t in them. But Damian’s dad was. On every channel.
Damian grabbed my phone and threw it in a puddle. “They can track it.”
I nodded. I couldn’t breathe.
We ducked into another alley. Then another.
The city was waking up. Lights in windows. People on phones.
And everywhere, the story.
We made it to a rooftop.
Damian collapsed against the wall. Hands on his knees. Breathing hard.
Mara stood at the edge, looking at the city. “It’s working. The stock is crashing. The board is calling for his resignation.”
I sat down. Hard. My legs gave out.
“It’s over,” I whispered.
Damian sat next to me. “No. It’s just starting.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father doesn’t lose,” he said. “Not like this. He’ll run. Or he’ll fight. And he’ll blame me.”
As if on cue, my phone, dead in the puddle, buzzed one last time.
I fished it out. Screen cracked.
One message. From Damian’s dad. Sent to both of us.
`You took everything from me. Now I take everything from you.`
Attached: a photo.
My apartment. On fire.
I made a sound.
Damian saw it. His face went blank. That cold mask again.
“He burned your home,” he said quietly. “To send a message.”
I stared at the photo. My fairy lights. My records. My mom’s photo. Gone.
Mara knelt next to me. “I’m sorry.”
I couldn’t talk.
Damian did something then. He put his arm around me. And pulled me to him.
I let him.
We sat on that rooftop while the city burned below us. Not with fire. With truth.
After a while, Damian spoke. “We have to leave the city. Tonight. Before he finds us.”
“Where?” I asked. My voice was hollow.
“Anywhere,” he said. “Somewhere with no VexCorp. No Vant. No him.”
Mara stood. “I can get you papers. New names. But you have to go now.”
Damian looked at me. “Your choice, Ava. You can come with me. Or you can disappear on your own.”
I thought about my apartment. About my old life. About the USB and the running and the way he’d looked at me in the studio.
I took his hand. “I’m not doing this alone.”
Damian squeezed back. Hard.
“Then let’s go,” he said.
We stood.
Below us, the city was on fire with news.
Above us, the sky was starting to lighten.
And somewhere, a man who owned half the city was planning how to burn the rest of it down to get to us.
The run wasn’t over.
But now, we were running together.
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- Writer
