Chapter 75 Breach
The glass front door of the Hayes studio was already shattered when Sarah pulled the car onto the sidewalk, and the jagged shards caught the light of the street lamps like spilled ice.
Sarah didn't wait for the engine to stop before she was out of the seat, her boots crunching on the glass as she ignored the black SUV idling at the curb with its tinted windows rolled up. Mark was right behind her, his hand already reaching for a heavy flashlight he kept in the glovebox, and he stepped in front of her to block the entrance as two men in grey security uniforms stepped out of the shadows of the reception desk.
"This is a private Place of business, and you are trespassing on a site that is currently under a Harrington legal hold, Ms. Hayes," the taller guard said, he didn't reach for a weapon, but he stood with his legs braced as if he were waiting for her to try and push past him.
"I am the owner of this building, and I have the original deed in my hand, so unless you have a warrant signed by a judge, you have ten seconds to get out before I call the police and report a burglary," Sarah said, her voice was a low, steady line of steel and she held up the flash drive Julian had given her at the docks.
"The police are already on their way, and they are coming to assist us in the recovery of stolen intellectual property that belongs to the Harrington Group," the guard replied, but he looked over his shoulder when he heard the sound of a metal filing cabinet being tipped over in the back office.
"They aren't looking for property, Mom, they’re looking for the paper Julian told us about," Mark said, he stepped around the guard and used his shoulder to shove the office door open, revealing a third man who was dumping the contents of Sarah’s desk into a shredding bin.
"Get away from that desk right now," Sarah shouted, she walked into the room and didn't flinch when the man turned toward her with a look of bored indifference.
"Mr. Harrington wants the archives cleared for the audit, Sarah, and he doesn't want any 'clutter' slowing down the process," the man said, he reached for a stack of blue folders that contained the Veridian site plans, but Sarah was faster, she grabbed the edge of the bin and kicked it away from him.
"The audit hasn't started yet, and you are destroying evidence of a felony, so if you want to spend the next ten years in a cell for Richard Harrington, keep moving those hands," she told him, and the man stopped, his eyes shifting to the doorway where Mark was standing with the flashlight held like a club.
The sound of a car door closing outside made everyone go still, and Sarah turned to see Alex walking through the shattered front door, his shirt was torn at the collar and he had a dark bruise starting to form along his jawline. He didn't look like an executive, and he didn't look like a man who had been deprogrammed by his father, he looked like he had climbed out of a basement window and run three miles through the rain to get to the studio.
"The lockdown didn't hold, did it?" Mark asked, he lowered the flashlight and walked toward his friend, his face showing a mix of relief and a hard, peer-to-peer respect.
"My father forgot that I grew up in that house, I know every service tunnel and every blind spot in the security grid," Alex said, his breath was coming in short, ragged bursts and he looked at Sarah with a look that was raw and honest. "I saw the papers, Sarah, I found the digital trail on his personal laptop before I left, he did forge the note."
"I know, Julian met us at the docks and gave us the original," Sarah said, she walked to him and gripped his arm, feeling the heat of his skin through the damp fabric of his shirt.
"He’s sending the city police to seize the servers, he’s going to claim the Vane trust was used to fund an illegal corporate espionage ring," Alex told her, he looked at the guards who were still standing in the hallway. "Get out of here, tell my father that the files are already gone, and if you stay one more minute, I’m filing a personal assault charge against every man in this room."
The guards looked at each other, and then at the son of the man who signed their paychecks, and they realized that the power in the Harrington family was shifting in a way that didn't favor the old man in the mansion. They walked out of the studio without another word, their heavy boots silent on the carpet as they retreated to the SUV and drove away into the night.
"We have to move the servers to the Vane estate, it’s the only place the city police can't go without a federal warrant," Alex said, turning back to Sarah and Mark.
"The Vane estate? Your mother won't let us through the gate if she thinks we are bringing a Harrington war to her front porch," Sarah said, her mind already calculating the risk of moving the data.
"My mother is the one who told me where the service tunnel was, Sarah, she’s done with the lies too," Alex replied, and he looked at the two of them, the three of them standing in the middle of the ruined office. "We aren't just leaving the city, we are taking the evidence with us, and tomorrow morning, we aren't going to a board meeting, we are going to a courtroom."
"I’ll grab the hard drives, you and my Mom get the car ready," Mark said, he headed for the server room with a focused energy.
Sarah looked at Alex, seeing the man who had finally broken his chains, and she felt a surge of the fire that usually only came when they were alone. She didn't want a romantic speech, and she didn't want a plea for forgiveness, she wanted the man who was standing in front of her, ready to burn down the empire that had tried to crush her.
"You're sure about this, Alex? Once we do this, there is no going back to the Harrington name," she asked.
"I never wanted the name, Sarah, I only ever wanted the life you showed me," he said, and he leaned down to kiss her, a quick, hard pressure that tasted like salt and determination.
"Then let's go," she said.