"The earliest flight out."
...
On Interstate 376, heading toward Pittsburgh International Airport, the rain was pouring down.
The windshield wipers swung frantically, their monotonous, rapid scraping barely able to clear the seemingly endless curtain of water.
Outside the window, the skyline of the Steel City distorted and blurred in the rain-laced fog, like an oil painting drenched before it could dry.
The air inside the car was suffocatingly stuffy.
Ethan Hawke was driving, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. His eyes were glued to the blurry road ahead, not daring to let his focus waver for an instant.
In the back seat, Leo Wallace held his phone.
The screen's cold light illuminated his face, while the countdown on the wall still ticked away in his mind.
Twelve days left.
If the five-hundred-million-US-Dollar bond issue wasn't approved for sale within twelve days, it would all be over.
Leo took a deep breath and dialed a familiar number.
