23/10/2025
Miles pushed the final few yards through a narrow culvert pipe, the stone rough against his shoulders. The air was suddenly fresher, carrying the metallic scent of old steel and creosote. With a grunt, he shoved the rusted metal grate at the end of the tunnel. It groaned open, revealing a view of a dark, moonless night.
They had arrived at the railroad spur line.
He hauled himself out first, crouching low in a tangle of dry, thorny weeds. The world above ground felt vast and exposed after the claustrophobic drain. Fifty feet away, the dark silhouette of an abandoned train car sat motionless on a decaying wooden trestle. The only sound was the distant, low hum of the metropolis they had just left.
Elara surfaced right behind him, her movements quick and silent. She immediately drew the small, rugged GPS unit from her satchel.
"Status," Miles whispered, checking the dense tree line to their left and the long, open sweep of the tracks to their right.
Elara's fingers flew over the device. "We're on the decommissioned Iron Ridge Line. It's a dead end. We need to follow the tracks north—there's an old logging road that intersects about a mile from here. It should be far enough from the EMP blast zone that they lost our signature."
Miles scanned the empty landscape, a veteran detective's unease settling in his gut. It was too quiet.
"If they lost the beacon, they'll be sweeping the perimeter," he said, adjusting the grip on his pistol. "A car search on the highway, maybe a couple of spotters on the high ground." He looked at the abandoned train car. "Perfect cover. We'll follow the tracks, but we'll stick to the shadow of that car for as long as we can."
Elara nodded, her eyes constantly moving, searching the darkness. "We have maybe an hour before the first sign of dawn, and less than that before they mobilize an aerial search. They'll use thermal. We need to be gone before the sky turns gray."
As they moved, keeping low beneath the trestle, Miles glanced at Elara. Her clothes were soaked, her hair was plastered to her face, yet her focus was absolute. She wasn't just a programmer; she was a survivor.
"The drive you crushed," Miles asked softly as they slipped into the deep shadow of the boxcar. "Is the data truly safe, or did you just buy us a little time?"
She turned, her piercing blue eyes catching the faintest sliver of ambient light. "I destroyed the physical device that stored the active network key. But Jonathan's mind, the real Lazarus, is still carrying the core program. That's why we're going for him. We have to finish the protocol, or this entire corporate shadow war starts over in a few days when they find another way to hack him."
The ground beneath their feet crunched on loose gravel as they started their trek along the tracks—two soaked figures moving through the night, chasing a compromised genius and fleeing a corporate monster.