Chapter 4 - The Escape Route
Lorenzo grabbed a tactical shotgun from the weapons rack and pumped a shell into the chamber.
He pushed Clara and Rosie toward the secondary escape hatch hidden beneath a heavy Persian rug.
The electronic beeping from the breaching charge grew faster and incredibly loud.
"Get in the tunnel and do not stop running until you hit the street level," Lorenzo ordered.
Clara hesitated, looking at the man she had feared for three entire years.
"What about you?" she asked, clutching Rosie tightly to her chest.
"I will buy you time," Lorenzo replied, taking cover behind a heavy steel desk.
The breaching charge detonated, tearing the heavy steel door entirely off its hinges.
Thick gray smoke poured into the safehouse, obscuring the vision of the incoming attackers.
Lorenzo fired blindly into the smoke, hearing the satisfying sound of a body hitting the floor.
He knew Marco would not lead the charge himself, preferring to send expendable mercenaries.
Two more heavily armed men rushed into the room, their weapons scanning through the dust.
Lorenzo shot the first man in the chest and engaged the second in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
He disarmed the mercenary and knocked him unconscious with the heavy stock of his shotgun.
Lorenzo dropped the weapon and dove into the floor hatch just as more footsteps echoed in the tunnel.
He crawled rapidly through the narrow dirt passage, finally catching up to Clara and Rosie.
They emerged into a dark, rainy alleyway located in the industrial district of the city.
Lorenzo smashed the window of an old sedan parked near a dumpster and hotwired the ignition.
He drove them toward the harbor, knowing Marco controlled the police and the major highways.
They needed to disappear completely until Lorenzo could gather his remaining loyalists.
Clara looked at Lorenzo from the passenger seat, her eyes wide with newfound respect.
"You really did not know about the coup, did you?" she asked softly.
Lorenzo gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned completely white.
"Marco will burn in hell for what he took from me," Lorenzo promised.
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The radio on the dashboard suddenly crackled to life, broadcasting a local emergency police bulletin.
The dispatcher announced that Lorenzo Vitali was officially wanted for the kidnapping of a young maid and her child.
