The Escape

The heavy steel door of the server room finally clicked shut, the sound of the latch engaging ringing out like a gavel. I waited, my face pressed against the cold metal leg of the desk, listening to the receding rhythm of their footsteps. Bella’s sharp heels and Mark’s heavy tread faded into the corridor, leaving me in a room that suddenly felt like a pressurized chamber.

I scrambled out from the knee-hole, my limbs shaking so violently I nearly knocked over the server tower. My eyes went straight to the monitor.

*Copying... 100%*
*Transfer Complete.*

I didn't think. I ripped the silver hard drive from the port and shoved it into my tote bag, followed by the hardware keylogger. My fingers were slick with sweat, fumbling as I shouldered the bag.

*Accident.* The word was a siren in my head. They weren't just waiting for me to fail; they were waiting for me to die. Mark had sat at my table, gifted me peonies, and forehead-pressed me into a promise of 'care' while knowing the car in my garage was a coffin on wheels.

I moved to the door, pressing my ear against the steel. Silence. I cracked it open a fraction, the green 'Exit' sign at the end of the hall casting a sickly glow. I slipped through the gap, my breath hitching as the door hissed shut behind me.

I didn't use the stairs. Mark knew the back entrance. I headed for the side fire exit, the one that led to the alleyway behind the HVAC units. I pushed the bar—the alarm should have screamed, but it didn't. Mark had deactivated the internal security. He’d made it easy for himself to enter, and unknowingly, easy for me to vanish.

The night air hit me like a slap, freezing the sweat on my neck. I ran toward my Audi, parked in the furthest shadows of the lot. Every rustle of a leaf, every distant engine hum sounded like an ambush. I reached the car and threw my bag into the passenger seat.

I reached for the door handle, then stopped.

*One sharp turn on the gorge road and it's over.*

If I drove this car, I was fulfilling the prophecy. I looked at the dark building behind me, then at the empty expanse of the parking lot. I couldn't drive my car. But I couldn't stay here.

I pulled out my phone, my thumb hovering over a ride-share app, when a flash of light caught my eye from the entrance of the lot. Two sets of headlights. They were idling near the gate, side by side.

I lowered my body, hiding behind the pillars of the parking garage. Through the gap, I could see the silhouettes of the vehicles. Mark’s massive Silverado was unmistakable.

But it was the car idling inches from his driver’s side window that made my blood turn to ice. It was a beat-up Volkswagen Jetta with one dim headlight.

She saw Bella's car parked next to Mark's. The license plate was covered with mud.