Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN THEY BLAMED
Colonel Bennett ordered every screen shut off.
"No one fires," she said. "No one moves unless I say so."
Some soldiers obeyed instantly. Others kept staring at Emily as if the broadcast might still be true. She stood in the center of the platform with Ethan in her arms, exhausted, blood on her sleeve, and her own face glowing from every darkened monitor.
Terrorist.
The word did not feel dramatic. It felt sticky, impossible to wash away.
"That photograph came from my press credentials," she said.
"Federal databases are compromised," Mason replied.
Bennett led them into a command room hidden beneath the station. Maps covered the walls. Red markers showed bridges, hospitals, power stations, and communications towers seized under emergency authority.
Vice President Rourke appeared on a muted television, grave and polished behind the presidential seal. Captions called the attack foreign-backed terrorism. They named Emily as a suspect. They urged citizens to report anyone helping her.
"He is building the story before truth catches up," Adrian said.
Emily looked at the map. "Where is Lakeshore Haven?"
Bennett pointed to the lakefront.
A red marker sat beside it.
"What does red mean?"
"Federal containment team."
Emily turned toward the door.
Adrian stepped in front of her. "No."
"That is my mother."
"And Charlotte is my wife. The President is her father. Ethan is our child. Rourke is using everyone we love to pull us apart."
Emily hated him for being right.
They needed to broadcast Charlotte's evidence. Bennett tried official channels; every one failed. Cerberus controlled the emergency network.
Emily thought of Jonah Blake, an independent journalist who operated an illegal microwave transmitter from the roof of an old hotel. During protests, when cell service vanished, Jonah's signal had carried the truth over rooftops.
"I know someone," she said.
They moved through tunnels to the Palmer House loading level. Chicago above them had become a city of shadows. Armored vehicles blocked intersections. Families watched from apartment windows. Helicopters swept spotlights over empty streets.
Jonah opened the service door wearing pajama pants, boots, and a bulletproof vest.
He stared at Emily, Ethan, Adrian, three agents, a doctor, and a National Guard colonel.
"I was going to ask how your day was," he said, "but I hate obvious questions."
Inside his rooftop studio, cables ran across the floor like vines. Jonah watched Charlotte's video once and stopped joking.
"I can push this to every station with a dish," he said. "But they will locate us fast."
"How fast?" Bennett asked.
"Three minutes if they are slow."
"Then give us two good ones," Emily said.
Jonah aligned the antenna. Emily recorded a statement beside Ethan.
"My name is Emily Carter. I did not kidnap this child. I found him injured and alone. The official story is false. Watch the evidence and decide who is lying."
The transmission began.
Across Chicago, televisions flickered. Rourke's speech vanished. Charlotte's bruised face filled the screens.
For ninety seconds, the truth escaped.
Then the hotel power failed.
Explosions shook the lower floors.
"They found us," Mason said.
Jonah pointed toward the roof. "Cable bridge to the next building."
They climbed twenty-three floors in darkness. Ethan had fallen asleep against Emily's shoulder, too tired to fear anything. On the roof, wind tore at their clothes. A narrow maintenance platform hung from a cable stretching across the street.
"Absolutely not," Emily said.
"Wonderful," Jonah replied. "You understand the plan."
They clipped in. The platform rolled over the gap while gunmen burst onto the roof behind them. Bennett's soldiers fired back.
Halfway across, bullets struck the support wheel.
The platform tilted.
Emily grabbed Ethan with one arm and the frame with the other. Adrian locked his body around both of them. The secondary cable snapped, dropping them several feet.
Far below, armored vehicles surrounded the hotel.
"We climb," Adrian said.
"Climb what?"
"The cable."
Hand over hand, with Ethan held between them, they crossed above the frozen street. When they reached the opposite roof, the platform broke loose and fell.
Phones across the city began ringing.
People had recorded Charlotte's broadcast.
Millions of copies were spreading beyond Cerberus's control.
Then Jonah's emergency receiver flashed.
His face changed.
"Rourke moved up the announcement."
"How long?" Adrian asked.
"Forty-five minutes. He is declaring the President dead at nine."
May you like
Emily looked toward the dark river.
They had less than an hour to rescue a man the world was already being taught to mourn.
