Chapter 3 - The Underground Escape
The heavy caliber bullets struck the armored glass with terrifying, rhythmic thuds that sounded like sledgehammers.
The bulletproof windshield began to splinter and spiderweb under the sustained, aggressive assault.
“The glass will not hold for another sixty seconds!” Marco shouted over the deafening noise.
Gabriel looked out the passenger window and saw a narrow concrete stairwell leading down into the city's subway system.
“Cover us!” Gabriel roared, kicking his heavy door open and stepping out into the pouring rain.
Marco drew his weapon and fired wildly through his open window toward the rooftops to suppress the mercenary shooters.
Gabriel reached into the backseat, unbuckling Leo and thrusting the crying baby into Mia’s arms.
“Run straight down those stairs and do not look back,” Gabriel commanded her fiercely.
Mia clutched the baby tightly against her chest and sprinted through the rain, her boots slipping dangerously on the wet concrete.
Gabriel followed closely behind her, returning fire at the dark silhouettes moving along the brick rooftops.
They plunged into the dark, damp stairwell of the abandoned subway station just as their armored SUV finally exploded in a massive fireball.
The sheer force of the shockwave knocked Mia forward, but Gabriel caught her by the waist before she could hit the filthy tile floor.
They descended deeper into the underground transit tunnels, leaving the fiery chaos burning on the street above them.
The air in the tunnels was stale and smelled heavily of rust, standing water, and ozone.
Mia leaned against a concrete pillar, gasping for breath as she tried to soothe the terrified, crying infant in her arms.
Gabriel watched her bounce the baby gently, completely mesmerized by her fierce, maternal resilience.
She was just a civilian accountant, yet she had survived a kidnapping, escaped a warehouse, and navigated a deadly ambush without entirely breaking down.
“You are bleeding,” Mia whispered, pointing a trembling finger at Gabriel’s left arm.
Gabriel looked down and noticed a jagged piece of shrapnel embedded deeply in his bicep from the vehicle explosion.
Before he could tell her it was nothing, heavy, splashing footsteps echoed from the dark tunnel behind them.
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Vincent’s heavily armed hit squad had followed them down into the underground darkness.
Gabriel raised his weapon, realizing he only had four bullets left in his magazine.
