Chapter 355: Everyone Getting Hard Tonight
Aiko stepped closer slowly, her hand hesitating a moment before settling gently on his arm.
"Nash," she said, softer now. "It’s okay... I’m okay. It’s over."
He nodded, without really answering, his eyes landing on Jinzo one last time, the wheezing breath, the unrecognizable face, but still alive, his chest rising weakly.
Something twisted in his chest at the sight, a discomfort he didn’t like feeling.
"It wasn’t... supposed to go that far," he said quietly, almost to himself.
Rei stepped closer too, hesitant.
"Nash, he tried to rape her... You... it’s normal to get angry, and you saved her—"
"I know," he cut in, not harsh, just tired. "I know what he did."
He stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes not leaving Jinzo, before shaking his head slightly, like he was trying to push the thought away, quickly wiping his bloodied knuckles against his pants.
"We don’t have time for this," he said finally. "We really don’t have time."
He turned to face the two girls, his expression slowly settling back into that composure they knew from him, even if something in his eyes stayed different now, more troubled, more human somehow.
"We’re leaving," he said. "Now."
They started moving toward the exit, picking up their pace through the hallways, Rei and Aiko exchanging a quick glance behind his back, neither one really finding the words for what they’d just seen.
But before they even reached the first corner, Nash stopped suddenly, a thought crossing his mind.
"Shit," he said. "Harlan. We need to find his car, fast."
Outside, Harlan crept carefully along the wall of the staff parking lot, his heart pounding, pressing himself against a concrete pillar every time he spotted a uniformed figure approaching.
He glanced discreetly over his shoulder, counting at least three agents patrolling between the rows of vehicles, their phones ringing nonstop, sharp, tense orders being exchanged from one voice to the next.
He waited for the nearest one to turn his back, then moved quickly, hunched over, hugging the parked cars, one hand clenched around the inside pocket of his jacket where the hard drive sat.
Another agent appeared at the end of the row. Harlan froze instantly, ducking behind a big black SUV, holding his breath, his heart hammering so hard he was sure it could be heard ten feet away.
The agent’s footsteps drew closer, then passed right by him without stopping, continuing their round.
Harlan waited a few more seconds, counting silently, before resuming his crawl forward, slower now, more careful, his eyes constantly scanning for the next hiding spot.
In the server room, two security agents found the connection module unplugged, dangling at the end of its cable, a small red light blinking weakly on the powered-down unit.
"Found it," one of them said into his radio, his voice crackling through the system. "Module’s been manually disconnected. Someone did this from the inside."
Monique arrived a few seconds later, a blood-soaked compress still pressed against her temple, her face tight with a cold fury that had replaced her initial panic.
"Manually," she repeated, her voice sharp. "Are you telling me someone with access deliberately cut the surveillance."
"Looks that way, ma’am."
She stayed silent for a moment, her eyes fixed on the dead module, the pieces slowly coming together in her head through the pain still pounding at her skull.
...Harlan. That son of a bitch.
"Everyone to the parking lot," she suddenly ordered. "Now! Find Harlan and bring him to me, in one piece or in ten, I don’t care!"
The agents scattered immediately, their radios crackling with new orders, the news spreading fast through the whole building.
In the hallways, the sudden chaos began breaking through the calm that had reigned until then. Agents ran through the lounges, nearly shoving past the hostesses who stepped aside, startled, while several clients, drinks still in hand, frowned in confusion.
"What’s going on," one of them asked, the same regional commissioner who’d tried to recruit Nash earlier, grabbing the arm of an employee rushing past.
"Nothing, sir, everything’s fine," the employee answered, pulling free without even slowing down.
An uneasy murmur started spreading among the guests, some standing up, straightening their jackets, scanning for an exit without wanting to look like they were fleeing, others just staying seated, annoyed that their evening was being interrupted by what looked, from a distance, like some kind of manhunt.
Nash, Rei, and Aiko pushed their way through the growing chaos, Rei in the lead now, more familiar with the route they’d taken on the way in.
"It’s this way," she said, pointing to a service corridor on their left. "Leads straight to the staff parking lot."
"You sure that’s where Harlan parked," Nash asked, his eyes scanning constantly, counting the agents running in every direction.
"Yeah," Aiko said. "I memorized the way we came in."
They picked up the pace, rushing down a dimly lit service staircase, finally coming out through a metal door leading straight to the outdoor parking lot.
Outside, Harlan, hiding behind the black SUV, felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He grabbed it quickly, heart pounding, reading the message that had just come through — a general alert sent to all security personnel, his name spelled out in full.
They know. Shit, they already know.
He shoved the phone away, hands shaking, and risked a look over the hood of the SUV. His own car sat there, about ten feet away, but two agents had posted themselves right next to it, clearly checking each vehicle one by one, working their way down the row toward him.
No no no no.
He backed away, pressing himself against the side of the SUV, desperately searching for another way out. He could turn back, go back inside, but that seemed just as suicidal now that Monique must have sounded the alarm everywhere.
The agents were getting closer, their voices clear now.
"Check that one," one of them was saying. "The gray sedan, right there."
That’s mine. That’s exactly mine.
Harlan felt panic close around his throat, his mind racing for a solution that probably didn’t exist.
That’s when the service door burst open behind him, making Harlan jump so hard he nearly choked back a scream.
Rei came out first, followed closely by Nash and Aiko, her eyes immediately sweeping the lot, spotting in a second the two agents closing in on the gray car.
"There! He’s there!" Rei whispered, pointing at Harlan hiding behind the SUV.
Nash didn’t answer, just started walking straight toward the two agents like he was casually strolling through the parking lot.
One of the agents noticed him first, turning toward him, a hand instinctively going to the weapon at his belt.
"Sir, this area is—"
He didn’t get to finish the sentence.
Nash’s fist crashed into his jaw before he could even react, sending him crumpling against the hood of a neighboring car, the alarm blaring instantly in a shrill scream.
The second agent reacted faster, reaching for his gun, but Nash was on him in a split second, catching his wrist before he could draw, twisting it sharply. The agent cried out in pain, the weapon slipping from his hand, before a knee to the gut folded him in half, followed by one last hit that sent him crashing to the ground, unconscious.
The whole thing had taken only a few seconds — all hail the man with maxed strength and speed stats.
Nash stood there for a moment, his breathing barely affected, looking down at the two bodies sprawled on the ground, the car alarm still screaming across the lot, more agents surely about to show up any second.
Harlan, still hiding behind the SUV, stared wide-eyed at the scene, relief and pure terror twisting his stomach together.
Shit. SHIT! Fucking hell, what the— for fucking sake....
He straightened up fast, running toward his own car before stopping dead, realizing in a split second that with Nash’s speed, he’d catch him the moment he opened the door, which would mark him instantly as a traitor.
That would probably be the worst decision of his entire life.
Plan A. Go back to plan A.
He changed direction abruptly, rushing toward Nash, Rei, and Aiko instead, his jacket flapping behind him, the hard drive still clutched in his inner pocket.
"Nash!" he shouted, out of breath, reaching them. "Nash, wait—"
Nash turned toward him, frowning slightly.
"Harlan? What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice strangely neutral.
Harlan stopped dead in front of Nash, breathing hard, throwing nervous glances back at the building.
"I was—" Harlan hesitated, searching for words. "I was in my car, ready to—"
"Ready to what," Nash cut in, one eyebrow raising slightly. "Ready to run off on your own before I even made it back here?"
Harlan went pale, his mouth opening without any sound coming out right away.
"No, I—"
"Relax," Nash said, a thin, joyless smile barely tugging at his lips. "I’d probably have done the same in your position. And I’d have regretted it bitterly."
Harlan felt his stomach twist tighter, unable to tell if Nash was actually joking or if he’d just been read like an open book.
"I have— uh, oh, wait," he dug his hand into his jacket, pulling out the hard drive, his fingers trembling slightly as he held it out to Nash. "I have this. What I told you about, what we wanted. Client lists, transactions, dates, names. Everything we needed to bring down Hector and everyone else mixed up in this with him."
Nash froze for a second, his eyes dropping to the small black case held out in front of him.
"You actually—" He reached out slowly, his fingers closing carefully around the drive, like he was afraid it might break. "You actually did it."
"Yeah," Harlan said, a little relieved by Nash’s reaction.
Nash turned the drive once between his fingers, his eyes fixed on it with a new kind of intensity, like he couldn’t quite believe what he was actually holding.
"All of Apex’s data," he murmured, more to himself than to Harlan. "The real names. The real numbers."
"All of it," Harlan confirmed, nodding vigorously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, the worry still visible in every gesture despite the pride now creeping into his voice. "We did it. You, me, the team. We’ve got everything we need now. Mission accomplished, 100%. We need to get out of here, right now, before—"
"99," Nash said, not looking up from the drive, his voice going strangely calm, almost distant.
Harlan blinked, confused.
"What?"
"99%," Nash repeated, finally slipping the drive into his own pocket, his eyes lifting to meet Harlan’s. "Not 100."
"I—" Harlan stood there, mouth open, completely lost. "What do you mean, 99? We’ve got everything, I just told you, we’ve got—"
A sound rang out behind them, the service door slamming violently against the wall.
All four of them turned at once.
Monique stood in the doorway, a blood-soaked compress still pressed against her temple, flanked by several security agents, her eyes sweeping quickly over the scene before locking directly on them.