Chapter 52 - The Chicago Spire
The Chicago Spire was a towering monument of glass and steel, an architectural marvel that dominated the city skyline. The top three floors were owned entirely by a dummy corporation, serving as the heavily fortified central nervous system for The Directorate.
It was raining heavily when Julian arrived in the city. He parked a stolen utility van two blocks away and observed the building. Elias had locked the tower down. There were armed guards patrolling the lobby, and the elevators required biometric clearance that updated every ten minutes. A frontal assault was impossible.
Julian didn't do impossible. He did the unexpected.
He accessed the city's subterranean utility tunnels, navigating the damp, rat-infested corridors until he reached the primary electrical substation that fed the Spire. Using his hacking rig, he didn't cut the power—that would trigger the backup generators. Instead, he introduced a microscopic line of malicious code into the building's environmental control system.
He set a timer for exactly twenty minutes.
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Julian emerged from the tunnels into the alley adjacent to the Spire. He attached a grappling hook to the heavy maintenance elevator shaft on the exterior of the building. Dressed in a sleek, black stealth suit, he began the grueling, punishing climb up seventy stories of wet steel and glass.
His muscles burned, the icy rain slicking the metal, but his mind was focused solely on Lily's peaceful face. He was the monster who kept the other monsters at bay.
