Chapter 4: The Safe House
They left Thorne Tower through an underground maintenance tunnel and entered an unmarked van waiting beneath a neighboring building.
Evelyn drove.
Julianna sat in the back with Lily, pressing a clean cloth against the cut near her temple.
Her phone had been taken.
Her accounts would soon be frozen.
Every building camera in the city likely carried facial recognition software licensed through Thorne Global.
Running from Elias was not like running from a man.
It was like running from the infrastructure of modern life.
They crossed the river and entered an older industrial neighborhood where warehouses stood between abandoned rail lines.
Evelyn drove into a crumbling garage.
The metal door closed behind them.
Inside, the building was transformed.
Servers lined the walls.
Maps covered long tables.
Screens displayed financial markets, government databases, shipping records, and live news feeds from around the world.
A dozen people turned toward them.
Former Thorne employees.
Engineers.
Lawyers.
A retired federal investigator.
Julianna recognized one man immediately.
“Marcus?”
Marcus Vale had been Thorne Global’s chief cybersecurity officer until Elias fired him three years earlier for “professional misconduct.”
Marcus approached slowly.
“I tried to warn you.”
“You disappeared.”
“I was forced to.”
Lily remained close to Julianna.
Evelyn introduced the others as members of a group called Lantern.
For years, Lantern had collected evidence against Elias.
Not enough to destroy him.
Not until Julianna opened the restricted Helix archive.
Marcus displayed a file on the largest screen.
PROJECT CROWN.
The folder contained billions of behavioral profiles.
Journalists.
Judges.
CEOs.
Government officials.
Ordinary citizens.
Every person was assigned a probability score.
Cooperative.
Useful.
Unstable.
Threatening.
Disposable.
Julianna stared at the last category.
“What does disposable mean?”
Marcus answered.
“People Helix determined could be destroyed without significant public consequence.”
“How?”
“Financial ruin. False criminal suspicion. Employment termination. Medical discrediting. Relationship manipulation.”
Lily looked confused.
Julianna pulled her closer.
Evelyn closed the file.
“Lily shouldn’t hear this.”
“She already saw her grandfather attack me,” Julianna said. “Don’t pretend she can be protected by silence.”
The words landed heavily between mother and daughter.
Evelyn accepted them.
“You’re right.”
Marcus opened another record.
JULIANNA THORNE.
Threat Index: 87.4 percent.
Recommended Response: Isolation, credibility reduction, removal from governance.
Below it was a newer entry.
LILY MERCER.
Predictive Risk: Undetermined.
Julianna’s breath stopped.
“Why does Helix have a file on my daughter?”
“Because Elias ordered profiles on every potential heir,” Evelyn replied.
Julianna read Lily’s file.
School reports.
Private medical information.
Recorded conversations.
Images taken from inside their home.
One note was dated only six hours earlier.
MATERNAL ATTACHMENT MAY CREATE LEVERAGE.
Julianna closed the file with trembling hands.
“He was going to use her against me.”
“He already was.”
A television in the corner interrupted them.
Breaking news.
A photograph of Julianna appeared on the screen.
The anchor reported that Julianna Thorne had suffered a “severe emotional episode” at her father’s penthouse after being confronted over financial misconduct.
Elias appeared outside Thorne Tower surrounded by reporters.
His expression was grave and sorrowful.
“My daughter is deeply unwell,” he said. “Our family is focused on getting her the treatment she needs.”
Julianna watched him lie with perfect composure.
Then another image appeared.
Security footage showing Julianna knocking over a table and screaming at staff.
The video had been altered.
She had never done those things.
Elias continued.
“For the protection of my granddaughter, we are seeking immediate temporary custody.”
Lily began to cry.
“They’re going to take me?”
“No,” Julianna said firmly.
The retired investigator stepped forward.
“If Elias controls the narrative, a judge may sign an emergency order tonight.”
“Then we release the video of him attacking me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Julianna stared at her.
“He’s trying to steal my daughter.”
“And if we release one video without proving the larger system, Elias will call it manipulated. He controls half the forensic experts who will appear on television.”
“So we wait?”
“We make Helix testify against him.”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“To do that, we need access to the primary core.”
“Where is it?”
“Under Thorne Tower.”
Julianna understood.
May you like
They had just escaped the building.
Now they had to break back inside.
