Chapter 6 - THE BRASS POCKET WATCH
“We have to go. Now,” I said, scooping Leo up into my arms.
I didn’t care about the noise anymore. I sprinted out of the coat check room, my boots pounding against the brick floor of the sub-basement.
The timer on the brass watch was ticking down.
00:02:45.
I ran toward the emergency stairwell that led up to the main restaurant floor. The bomb wasn’t large enough to level the building—Kane wouldn’t risk destroying the structure while he was still inside looking for me—but it was definitely powerful enough to obliterate the sub-basement.
I hit the heavy steel door of the stairwell and shoved it open.
As I burst onto the landing, three of Kane’s men were waiting at the top of the stairs, rifles raised.
“Drop the boy!” the lead mercenary shouted.
I didn’t hesitate. I dropped to my knees, shielding Leo with my body, and fired three rounds from my sidearm in rapid succession.
Two men went down instantly. The third fired wildly, a bullet grazing my shoulder. The burning pain flared, but the adrenaline masked it completely. I fired again, taking the third man down with a shot to the chest.
00:01:30.
I grabbed Leo, hauling him up the stairs, slipping slightly on the blood pooling on the metal steps.
We burst through the doors into the main dining room of the restaurant. The same room where I had been sitting an hour ago, drinking wine.
It was completely dark, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the shattered windows.
“Where is my mom?” Leo cried, burying his face in my neck.
“I’m going to find her,” I promised, scanning the room.
I needed to get the bomb off him.
I set Leo down behind the thick, marble bar. “Leo, I need you to take the necklace off. Right now.”
Leo clutched the brass watch to his chest. “No! It’s my dad’s!”
“Leo, please,” I begged, my hands shaking as I looked at the digital display.
00:00:45.
“Dr. Kane lied to you! It’s going to hurt us!” I said.
I couldn’t wait for him to understand. I reached forward, snapping the cheap metal chain around his neck, and ripped the brass watch away from him. Leo screamed, trying to grab it back.
“Stay down!” I ordered.
I sprinted toward the kitchen doors, rearing my arm back, and hurled the brass watch as hard as I could into the deep industrial freezer at the back of the kitchen. I slammed the heavy steel freezer door shut and threw the latch.
I dove back behind the marble bar, covering Leo’s body with my own just as the timer hit zero.
The explosion was deafening.
The heavy steel freezer door blew completely off its hinges, flying across the kitchen and smashing into the brick wall. A massive fireball rolled through the kitchen, blowing out the remaining windows in the dining room. Glass rained down on us like deadly hail.
The heat washed over my back, singeing my coat, but the marble bar absorbed the brunt of the shockwave.
The restaurant fire alarms began screaming. Sprinklers engaged, soaking us in cold, foul-smelling water.
I coughed, waving the thick black smoke away from my face.
I looked down at Leo. He was terrified, crying silently, but he was completely unharmed.
“You’re safe,” I choked out, pulling him tight.
Suddenly, the heavy wooden doors at the front entrance of the restaurant were kicked open.
Through the smoke and the falling water, a figure stepped into the dining room.
It was Dr. Elias Kane.
He was holding a gun to the head of a young woman.
Elena. My sister.
Her hands were bound behind her back with zip-ties, her face bruised and bleeding.
“A valiant effort, Santiago,” Kane’s voice echoed through the ruined restaurant, completely calm despite the fire raging in the kitchen. “But you are out of time, and you are out of options.”
I stood up slowly, keeping Leo hidden behind the bar. I raised my weapon, aiming directly at Kane’s head.
“Let her go, Kane,” I warned, my finger resting heavily on the trigger.
“I want the ledger,” Kane demanded, pressing the barrel of his gun harder into Elena’s temple. “I built that blackmail ring. I spent a decade compiling the secrets of every judge, politician, and mob boss in this city. Your father stole it from me. I want it back.”
“I don’t have it,” I said.
Elena looked at me through the smoke. Her eyes weren’t filled with fear. They were filled with fierce, unmistakable defiance. She had our mother’s eyes.
“Don’t give it to him, Santiago,” Elena shouted, her voice ringing clear over the fire alarms. “He’s going to kill us anyway! Shoot him!”
“Shut up,” Kane hissed, striking her across the face with the butt of his gun. Elena dropped to her knees, gasping in pain.
“Stop!” I roared, taking a step forward.
May you like
Kane smiled, a sick, twisted expression. He reached into his coat pocket with his free hand and pulled out a small, remote detonator.
“I didn’t just rig the watch, Santiago,” Kane said smoothly. “I rigged the structural pillars of this entire building. You have ten seconds to tell me where the ledger is, or I bring this entire restaurant down on top of us.”
