Chapter 9 - The Devil's Bargain
Massive sparks exploded from the electrical box, instantly plunging the tunnel back into complete darkness.
Gunfire absolutely shredded the damp air where Dante and Elena had been standing seconds before.
Dante practically carried her as they sprinted blindly down a narrow maintenance shaft.
Bullets sparked viciously against the brick walls right behind their heads.
They burst out of an emergency exit grate and tumbled directly into a freezing alleyway.
Dante's black SUV was already waiting, idling quietly in the shadows.
He threw Elena into the passenger seat and jumped behind the wheel, flooring the gas pedal.
The heavy armored vehicle tore violently through the dark streets of Manhattan.
"Where are we going?" Elena cried, gripping the leather dashboard tightly.
"To the only place Lorenzo cannot touch," Dante growled, expertly swerving to avoid a city bus.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a heavily fortified safehouse hidden inside an abandoned shipyard.
Dante locked down the steel blast doors and finally holstered his weapon.
He looked completely exhausted, his expensive tuxedo ruined with dirt and blood.
"You literally just started a war with your own family," Elena whispered in shock.
"My family died a long time ago," Dante replied softly, walking over to pour them both a glass of whiskey.
He handed her the crystal glass, his fingers lingering intentionally against hers.
"We need to access those bank accounts in your memory to totally bankrupt him," Dante stated.
Elena looked down at her hands and realized she was still tightly clutching Adrian Bell's white baton.
She stared closely at the smooth wooden base of the conductor's wand.
There was a strange, tiny seam running exactly along the silver counterweight.
Elena gripped both ends of the baton and twisted it hard.
The bottom half snapped off, revealing a tiny, heavily encrypted USB flash drive hidden inside.
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"My father didn't just make me memorize the numbers," Elena gasped.
"He hid the actual digital ledger inside the only thing I would never throw away."
