Chapter 9: The Ambush in the Lobby
The sprawling marble lobby of Union Bank was completely deserted, save for three figures standing near the grand mahogany reception desk. Their faces were obscured by tactical balaclavas, and each wore a high-end black tactical suit identical to the ones worn by corporate strike teams.
At the center stood a woman whose posture and silver hair were unmistakable, even beneath the dim emergency lighting.
Helena Vance.
She lowered a silenced pistol to her side, her icy blue eyes—the exact same eyes as Julian’s—staring at her son with a chilling, clinical detachment.
"Well, Julian," Helena’s voice echoed through the cavernous, empty hall. "I always knew you were smart, but surviving the cyanide and breaking out of the vault in under five minutes? You truly are your father’s son."
Julian stepped out of the vault threshold, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were stark white. Marcus flanked him instantly, his service weapon raised and trained directly on Helena’s chest.
"Drop the weapon, Mrs. Vance," Marcus commanded, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "You are under arrest for conspiracy, corporate espionage, and attempted murder."
Helena let out a short, elegant laugh. She didn't flinch. "Captain Vance, please. In this city, badges are just expensive business cards. Put the gun down before someone you care about gets hurt."
"Mother," Julian spoke, his voice trembling with a cocktail of rage, betrayal, and lingering grief. "Fifteen years. You faked your own death in a yacht explosion, left me to run a multi-billion-dollar empire alone, and now you’re working with Richard to bomb my wedding and drain my accounts? Why?"
Helena stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor. "Because the empire you think you built, Julian, was built on stolen foundations. Project Janus wasn't just an experiment. It was a cure. And your father stole it from the rightful heirs—from families like Elena’s—to secure our family's absolute dominance."
Elena stepped out of the vault behind Julian, her eyes locked onto Helena with a searing intensity. "My parents didn't 'sign away' their research, did they? Your husband murdered them in their lab the night the facility burned down."
Helena paused, glancing at Elena for the first time with a flicker of genuine surprise in her eyes. "Ah. Test Subject 07. We thought the memory suppression protocol was absolute. I suppose human biology is harder to rewrite than software code."
"You ruined my life," Elena whispered, her voice shaking with suppressed fury as she stepped past Julian, her hand dipping into her coat pocket.
Before Helena could raise her pistol, Elena whipped her hand out, hurling a small, high-intensity flash-bang grenade she had scavenged from the security rack inside the vault directly onto the marble floor between them.
FLASH! BANG!
A blinding white light and a deafening shockwave shattered the silence of the lobby.
"Cover your eyes!" Marcus roared, grabbing Julian and pulling him down as smoke filled the room.
When the white glare faded and the smoke cleared a few seconds later, the lobby was completely empty. Helena and her strike team had vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a single, dropped item on the floor: a gold-encrusted pocket watch bearing the Vance family crest—and a set of GPS coordinates blinking on a small screen attached to it.
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Julian picked up the pocket watch. The GPS coordinates pointed to an abandoned research facility located deep in the desolate salt flats outside the city limits.
"That’s where Project Janus was originally housed," Julian said, his jaw set like iron. "That’s where this ends."
