Chapter 7 - THE TRAIN TICKET
“Adrian!” Sophia screamed, staring at the child’s drawing on the marble floor. “Leo! We have to go get Leo!”
Adrian’s finger hovered over the trigger, his dark eyes locked on Silas. For a fraction of a second, the mafia boss weighed the cost of vengeance against the cost of an innocent life. Silas had destroyed his family, murdered Sophia’s parents, and was minutes away from stealing his empire.
Adrian lowered the gun.
He grabbed the heavy ledger from the vault floor, grabbed Sophia’s hand, and bolted down the corridor, leaving Silas and Elena in the wreckage of the depository.
They sprinted up the stairwell, bursting through the rusted iron door into the alleyway.
The armored SUV was exactly where they left it. But the engine was off.
Adrian raised his weapon, approaching the driver’s side. He wrenched the door open.
Marcus slumped forward, groaning. He had a vicious laceration across his forehead, blood soaking his collar.
“Marcus!” Adrian grabbed his head of security, hauling him upright. “Where is the boy?!”
Marcus blinked, struggling to focus. “Boss… I’m sorry. They ambushed us. Four guys. They hit the car with an EMP, knocked out the comms. I fought them, but one of them had a gun on the kid. They took him.”
Sophia let out a guttural cry, collapsing against the side of the SUV. “Leo! Oh god, Leo!”
Adrian shook Marcus gently. “Where did they take him, Marcus? Think.”
“The vans,” Marcus coughed. “I heard one of them yell… Union Station. They’re taking him to the trains.”
Adrian’s mind raced. “Silas knows the police will swarm the city once the vault alarms register. He’s using the boy as a hostage to secure his escape out of the city. He’s going to use the train network to vanish before the board vote tomorrow, leaving Elena to take over.”
“We have to go to the station,” Sophia pleaded, grabbing Adrian’s lapels, her eyes wild with terror. “Adrian, please. He’s nine years old. He’s all I have left.”
Adrian looked down at her. The fierce, terrifying woman who had stood up in a ballroom to warn him was now begging him for her family’s survival.
“I swear to you, Sophia,” Adrian said, his voice a vow of absolute certainty. “We will get him back.”
Adrian threw Marcus the keys to a backup safehouse. “Get patched up. Call the loyalists. Tell them to converge on Union Station. But nobody moves in until I have the boy.”
Adrian and Sophia ran to the end of the alley, hijacking one of the bank’s idling security vehicles. Adrian drove like a madman, weaving through the late-night Chicago traffic, blowing red lights as sirens began to wail in the distance.
They arrived at Union Station in under ten minutes.
The massive, cavernous transit hub was sparsely populated at 2:00 AM, mostly filled with weary travelers and cleaning staff. The vaulted ceilings echoed with the hollow sound of train announcements.
Adrian parked the car on the curb, pulling his coat tight to conceal his weapon. “Stay behind me. Silas’s men will be looking for us. They’ll want to trade the boy for the ledger.”
Sophia nodded, her hands clutching the heavy leather book tight against her chest.
They moved through the grand concourse, Adrian scanning the crowd with predatory efficiency.
“Platform 4,” Adrian whispered, spotting two men in dark trench coats standing rigidly near the escalators. “Those are Silas’s enforcers.”
They crept closer, using the massive marble pillars for cover.
Down on Platform 4, the Midnight Express to Montreal was idling, hissing steam. Standing near the rear boarding car were three more armed men.
And in the center of them, clutching his small backpack, was Leo.
“Leo,” Sophia gasped, stepping forward.
Adrian pulled her back behind the pillar. “Wait. If we rush them, they’ll use him as a shield.”
But as Adrian studied the platform, he realized something was wrong. Leo wasn’t crying. The nine-year-old boy, who had been trembling in a closet an hour ago, was standing perfectly still, his eyes darting toward the luggage carts stacked near the train doors.
Adrian remembered what he had told the boy at the apartment. You hide well.
Suddenly, the train whistle blew a deafening, piercing shriek, signaling departure.
The sudden noise startled the enforcers. For exactly one second, the man holding Leo loosened his grip to check his watch.
Leo didn’t hesitate.
The boy dropped his backpack, stomped his heel down as hard as he could onto the enforcer’s foot, and bolted into the thick cloud of steam venting from the train’s undercarriage.
“Get him!” the enforcer yelled, plunging into the steam.
“Now!” Adrian roared.
Adrian broke cover, sprinting down the escalator with terrifying speed. He drew his weapon and fired two precise shots into the knees of the enforcers at the top of the stairs, dropping them instantly.
Sophia ran behind him, screaming Leo’s name.
They hit the platform. Chaos erupted. Passengers screamed and scattered.
Adrian engaged the two remaining men near the train, a brutal, close-quarters fight that showcased exactly why Adrian Moretti was the boss. He disarmed the first man, using his momentum to throw him into the side of the train, and struck the second man unconscious with the butt of his pistol.
Sophia ran frantically through the dissipating steam.
“Leo! Leo, where are you?!”
A small hand reached out from behind a stack of metal luggage carts, grabbing her jacket.
“Phia!” Leo sobbed, throwing himself into her arms.
“I’ve got you,” Sophia cried, dropping the ledger to wrap her arms around her brother. “I’ve got you, you’re safe.”
“How touching.”
The cold, arrogant voice echoed through the steam.
Sophia froze. She slowly turned around.
Standing ten feet away, her dress torn but her composure perfectly intact, was Elena. Silas’s daughter held her suppressed pistol aimed directly at Leo’s back.
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And in her other hand, she held a single, printed train ticket.
“My father is an old fool for thinking he could escape,” Elena smiled coldly. “But I am not. Kick the ledger over here, Sophia. Or I put a bullet in the boy and take it anyway.”
