Chapter 14 - THE SECURE BURNER
The next morning, the autumn rain beat heavily against the apartment windows, blurring the gray Chicago skyline outside.
Ethan placed a prepaid burner phone and a small, encrypted flash drive onto the wooden kitchen table.
"I contacted a trusted investigative reporter for the Washington Post whom I interned with last summer," Ethan explained, tapping the phone screen.
Chloe watched him intently, wrapping both hands around a steaming mug of black coffee to steady her nerves.
"Did he believe us? Does he know what my father is capable of?" Chloe asked, her voice tight with tension.
"He knows the Vance family name very well. He's been trying to connect them to illegal offshore accounts for years," Ethan assured her.
"If we send him this encrypted drive, my father's lawyers will trace our digital footprint within twenty-four hours," Chloe pointed out logically.
"Which is why we aren't sending it digitally. We're getting on a Greyhound bus to Washington tonight," Ethan announced calmly.
Chloe stared at him in disbelief, letting out a sharp breath of air. "Are you out of your mind? Agent Miller said we can't leave the state!"
"Agent Miller is working for a corrupt judge on my father's payroll. If we stay here, we'll be arrested on fabricated charges by midnight," Ethan argued persuasively.
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Chloe weighed her options in silence, realizing her boyfriend was entirely right. Staying meant surrender; running meant fighting back.
"Let's pack our bags," Chloe said firmly, standing up from the table with renewed determination.
