Chapter 5 - THE BURNING BRIDGES
Smoke filled Evelyn’s lungs, thick and acrid. The warehouse was a war zone.
Marcus was returning fire blindly into the breached doorway, the boom of his shotgun vibrating through the floorboards. Lorenzo was already moving, his Sig Sauer barking as he provided covering fire, dragging Evelyn and Mia behind a heavy steel workbench.
"How did they find us?" Lorenzo shouted over the gunfire.
"I didn't lead them here!" Evelyn yelled back, terrified he would blame her.
"I know!" Lorenzo snapped, his eyes scanning the chaos. "They tracked Dante’s car. Celeste has the police scanners. We have to go. Down the grate!"
He pointed to a rusted iron grate set into the concrete floor a few feet away. It was an old bootlegger tunnel.
"Marcus!" Lorenzo roared. "The tunnel! Move!"
Marcus didn't turn around. He pumped another shell into the chamber. "I’m too old to run through the mud, boy! Take the girl and go! I’ll buy you three minutes!"
"Uncle!" Lorenzo yelled, genuine panic in his voice.
"Go!" Marcus fired again, taking down a heavily armed man stepping through the smoke. "Keep her safe, Lorenzo. Be a better man than your father!"
Lorenzo’s jaw clenched. He grabbed the iron grate, his muscles straining as he hauled the heavy metal up. A blast of cold, damp air rushed up from the darkness.
"Down," he ordered Evelyn.
Evelyn grabbed Mia, practically throwing herself into the dark hole. There was a metal ladder. She scrambled down, her hands slipping on the damp rungs, Mia clinging to her back like a terrified monkey.
Lorenzo followed a second later, pulling the grate shut above them.
The tunnel was pitch black and smelled of raw sewage and ancient brick. Above them, the muffled sounds of a vicious gunfight raged, followed by a terrifying, final explosion that shook dust loose from the ceiling.
Silence fell. Heavy, suffocating silence. Marcus was gone.
Lorenzo stood frozen in the dark for a long moment. Then, without a word, he clicked on a small flashlight he pulled from his belt. The beam cut through the gloom, illuminating the terrified faces of Evelyn and Mia.
"Come on," Lorenzo said, his voice hollow. "The Roosevelt station is two miles west."
They walked in silence for what felt like hours. The tunnel was freezing. Mia was shivering violently, her small hands clutching Evelyn’s apron. Evelyn unbuttoned the blood-stained dress shirt Lorenzo had given her and wrapped it around the little girl, tying the sleeves securely.
"Why are you helping us?" Mia whispered, her brown eyes looking up at Evelyn.
"Because we wear the same string," Evelyn said, forcing a reassuring smile. "It means we have to stick together."
Mia touched her red bracelet, a small, fragile smile appearing on her face.
Lorenzo watched the exchange, his hard expression softening in the dim flashlight beam. "Your father. The man who gave you the bracelet. What happened to him?"
"He owed money to the Vane family," Evelyn said quietly, keeping her eyes on the uneven brick path. "Celeste’s father. He couldn't pay. They took him for a ride. They sent me his watch in a shoebox the next day."
Lorenzo stopped walking. He turned to face her, the beam of the flashlight hitting the tunnel wall. "Celeste's family killed your father?"
"Yes."
"And you recognized her at the restaurant," Lorenzo realized, the pieces finally falling into place. "You didn't just save me because you panicked. You saved me because you knew what she was."
"I knew she was a killer," Evelyn said, her voice hardening. "I didn't know she was planning a massacre."
"We're going to make them bleed for it," Lorenzo promised, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
They reached a dead end. A solid wall of crumbling brick blocked the path.
"This is it," Evelyn said, pulling the brass key from her pocket. She stepped up to the wall, running her fingers along the damp bricks until she found a small, rusted iron plate hidden behind a patch of moss. She scraped the moss away, revealing a keyhole.
She inserted the brass key. It resisted for a moment, then turned with a heavy, satisfying clunk.
Lorenzo pushed against the brick wall. It was a heavy steel door disguised as brick. It swung open, revealing a pristine, climate-controlled vault.
Inside were stacks of hundred-dollar bills piled on metal shelves. Millions of it. But that wasn't what made Lorenzo freeze.
Sitting in the center of the vault, perfectly illuminated under a spotlight, was a velvet chair.
May you like
And sitting in the chair, with his legs crossed and a smug smile on his face, was Gilbert. The floor manager of the Obsidian.
"You always were too smart for your own good, Evie," Gilbert said, raising a silenced pistol. "But you really shouldn't have brought him here."
