Chapter 5 - The Ghost of the Past
Red and blue police lights began flashing violently through the rain-streaked penthouse windows.
Victor cursed under his breath and pulled Sadi away from the glass.
He knew they could not fight an army of heavily armed, corrupt tactical officers.
He rushed to the bedroom closet and activated a hidden switch behind the wooden shelves.
A secret panel slid open to reveal a narrow emergency escape chute.
Victor grabbed two heavy tactical vests and threw one over Sadi's head.
He pushed her into the dark chute and immediately jumped in after her.
They slid rapidly down through the pitch-black darkness of the building's infrastructure.
They crashed into a pile of soft gym mats in the basement level of the adjacent building.
Victor quickly led her through the bustling, chaotic kitchen of a luxury restaurant to escape unnoticed.
They vanished into the crowded city streets just as the police breached the penthouse above.
They walked for miles through the freezing rain to avoid being spotted by street cameras.
They finally reached the abandoned industrial district where Sadi's art studio was located.
The old brick building looked completely untouched by the chaos of the night.
They crept inside and locked the heavy wooden doors behind them.
Sadi rushed to the center of the room and furiously tore away the stained floorboards.
She pulled a heavy, black metal lockbox from the dusty earth.
She pressed her thumb against the glowing biometric scanner on the lid.
The lock clicked open with a satisfying, mechanical hiss.
Sadi lifted the lid, expecting to find the crucial flash drive that could end this war.
She gasped in absolute horror and dropped to her knees.
The metal lockbox was completely empty.
There was only a single, faded playing card resting at the bottom of the velvet lining.
It was the King of Spades, marked with a very specific, bloody thumbprint.
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Victor stared at the card, and all the color completely drained from his face.
That specific calling card belonged to his ruthless father, who had supposedly died ten years ago.
