A little over half an hour earlier, Sarah Lacy rushed down the stairs and waved down the first taxi she saw, urgency written across every line of her face. The door had barely shut before the car lurched forward, tires scraping against the asphalt as it merged into traffic.
“Sir, please—can you go faster?” Sarah leaned toward the front seat, her voice tight with anxiety. “I can pay extra. Whatever it takes.”
The driver glanced at the road ahead and let out a bitter laugh. “Even if you double the fare, there’s only so much I can do,” he said, tapping the steering wheel in frustration. “Look at this mess. The streets are completely jammed. Unless we grow wings and fly like those things overhead, we’re stuck.”
He jerked his chin upward toward the sky, where distant rotor noise echoed faint
