Episode 10
The world turned upside down in an instant. The sound of tearing metal and shattering glass exploded around them as the truck plummeted through the darkness.
Julian didn't look at the falling sky or the approaching black water below. He wrapped his entire body around Leo, tucking the boy's head beneath his chin, using his own back and shoulders as a human shield against the crushing impact.
CRASH.
The truck slammed into the deep, stagnant water of the quarry nose-first. The shockwave of the impact ripped through the cabin, shattering the remaining windows and instantly sending a freezing wall of black water rushing inside. The freezing temperature knocked the air straight out of Julian's lungs.
Within seconds, the heavy engine dragged the truck down, sinking deeper and deeper into the murky abyss. The cabin filled completely with water, plunging them into pitch-black, suffocating silence.
Julian’s lungs burned. Panic clawed at his mind, but he fought it down. Leo. He reached out in the dark, his hands frantically searching the swirling water until his fingers caught the fabric of Leo’s jacket. He pulled his brother close. Leo was struggling, his limbs flailing weakly as his oxygen ran out.
Julian jammed his foot against the passenger door, pushing with all his might, but the water pressure locked it shut. He reached into his waistband—the iron crowbar was still there. Using the last bit of leverage he had, Julian slammed the heavy iron bar against the cracked windshield.
Once. Twice. On the third strike, the glass webbed and gave way.
Julian grabbed Leo by the waist and shoved him through the broken windshield first, kicking his own legs to follow. Together, they broke free of the sinking metal coffin, swimming upward toward the faint, flickering red and blue lights reflecting on the surface of the quarry.
They broke the surface, gasping for air, coughing up the foul, icy water. Julian grabbed Leo, dragging him toward the steep, jagged rock wall of the quarry. They hid in the shadows of an overhanging ledge, shivering so violently their teeth clicked.
Above them, on the edge of the cliff where the guardrails had been torn away, heavy flashlights swept over the water.
"Did they survive the drop?" a tactical guard shouted from above.
"Doesn't matter," a cold, authoritative voice replied. Julian recognized it instantly—it was one of Katherine's lead mercenaries. "Shoot anything that floats. If they're at the bottom, leave them. If they try to crawl out, eliminate them."
Suddenly, a heavy splash echoed from the other side of the quarry.
"Movement by the eastern bank!" a guard yelled.
A hail of automatic gunfire rained down on the far side of the water, chewing up the mud and rocks. Julian looked across the quarry. In the flash of the muzzle fire, he saw a figure scrambling up the opposite bank, desperately trying to run. It was David Miller. The fall from the truck hadn't killed him, but his cowardice had caught up to him. He had crawled down to the water, and now he was the target.
"Hold your fire! That's the pastor! Katherine wants him alive for the encryption keys!" the lead mercenary shouted.
The guards began rappelling down the cliffside, their attention completely fixed on hunting down David Miller on the eastern bank.
Julian knew this was their only window. He looked at Leo, whose face was ghostly white, his breathing shallow and ragged. The experimental drugs, the freezing water, and the sheer exhaustion were pushing the nine-year-old’s body to its absolute limit. He couldn't run anymore.
"Hold onto me, Leo," Julian whispered, his own voice cracking from hypothermia.
Julian hoisted Leo onto his chest, holding him tight, and began to painstakingly crawl along the dark, freezing edge of the western bank, moving away from the gunfire and the searchlights. Every movement felt like moving mountains. His muscles were stiffening, shutting down from the cold.
After what felt like hours of agonizing crawling, Julian dragged them out of the quarry basin and into an old, rusted drainage pipe that ran beneath the highway. It was dark, damp, and smelled of rot, but it was hidden.
He slumped against the curved concrete wall of the pipe, pulling Leo into his lap. He rubbed Leo’s arms, desperately trying to bring warmth back into his brother's tiny frame.
"Juju..." Leo whispered, his eyes barely open, his voice a fading breath. "I'm so cold. I don't think I can get up."
"No, no, stay with me, Leo. Look at me," Julian begged, tears burning his eyes as he pressed his forehead against Leo's. "I didn't lose you to the Millers, and I'm not losing you now. Stay awake. Please."
Suddenly, a soft, rhythmic clack... clack... clack echoed from the mouth of the drainage pipe.
Someone was walking inside.
Julian froze, his hand instinctively reaching for the iron crowbar, raising it in the dark. He braced himself to fight to his last breath.
The silhouette of a person appeared at the entrance of the pipe, blocking the moonlight. The figure shone a small, dimmed penlight down the tunnel, revealing Julian and Leo huddled together.
Julian raised the crowbar, ready to strike, but the light didn't reveal a mercenary or a cop.
It revealed a young woman, no older than twenty-five, wearing a grease-stained mechanic's jumpsuit. She carried a heavy duffel bag and a tactical radio that was buzzing with the Syndicate's encrypted frequencies.
She looked at the bruised, bleeding, and freezing brothers. She didn't raise a weapon. Instead, she slowly lowered her flashlight and slipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out a silver medallion—the exact same matching design as the old pocket watch Julian’s biological father had discarded years ago.
"You don't know me, Julian," the woman said, her voice a hushed, urgent whisper that echoed in the pipe. "But your father didn't call you today to play the victim. He called to warn you. The Syndicate didn't just buy your mother; they took him too. I’m the inside asset he hired to get you out."
She unzipped her duffel bag, revealing dry clothes, medical supplies, and two forged passports.
"But we have a massive problem," she said, her face turning deadly serious as she looked at her flashing radio. "David Miller just talked. To save his own skin, he told Katherine everything. They know about the backup server. Right now, a cleanup crew is heading to Sarah Jenkins’ office to destroy the original files and kill her. If they wipe that server, your broadcast becomes a hoax, and you two will be ghosts permanently."
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She held out her hand to Julian. "We can run to the airstrip right now and save yourselves. Or we can go back into the city and try to save the only person who fought for you. But we have exactly twenty minutes before the server is wiped, and Katherine’s men are already at her door."
Julian looked at the dry clothes, then at his dying brother in his arms, and then out into the dark, hostile night. The choice was an impossible paradox: run and survive as hunted fugitives forever, or turn back into the jaws of the beast and risk losing everything they had fought to protect.
