Chapter 4 - The Descent
The concussive blast from the window explosion threw Adrian violently backward onto the hardwood floor.
Dante immediately pulled a hidden weapon from his waistband and fired rapidly in their direction.
Adrian rolled swiftly behind the heavy kitchen island and blindly returned fire to provide critical cover.
"Crawl toward the hallway bathroom right now!" Adrian yelled loudly over the deafening gunfire.
Audrey stayed completely flat on her stomach and frantically scrambled across the broken glass.
Dante cursed loudly as one of Adrian's bullets grazed his broad shoulder, forcing him to take cover behind a sofa.
The heavy front door of the penthouse was suddenly blown completely off its steel hinges by a second explosive.
A dozen heavily armed mercenaries rapidly flooded into the luxurious, smoke-filled living room.
Adrian grabbed Audrey by her uninjured arm and aggressively dragged her into the master bathroom.
He quickly slammed the solid oak door shut and locked the heavy deadbolt.
"They are going to breach this door in exactly ten seconds," Adrian stated calmly.
He aggressively kicked the custom stone shower wall, revealing a hidden, dark maintenance utility shaft.
"Climb down the steel ladder and absolutely do not look down," he ordered her instantly.
Audrey squeezed tightly through the narrow opening just as heavy bullets began tearing entirely through the bathroom door.
Adrian followed right behind her and forcefully pulled the heavy stone panel shut just as the door gave way.
They climbed rapidly down twenty steep, terrifying flights of stairs in total, suffocating darkness.
The air in the shaft was incredibly thick with dust and smelled heavily of old rust.
They finally reached the damp, concrete basement of the massive high-rise building.
Adrian kicked open a rusty metal grate and helped her carefully climb out into a dark, rainy alleyway.
They leaned heavily against the cold brick wall, gasping desperately for fresh, freezing air.
"We have to completely disappear right now before Dante locks down the city," Adrian whispered.
Before Audrey could even reply, her newly purchased burner phone vibrated aggressively in her coat pocket.
She pulled it out with violently trembling hands and opened a newly received picture message.
Her breath hitched painfully in her throat, and she nearly dropped the small device onto the wet pavement.
The digital photo clearly showed her younger sister, Claire, bound tightly to a wooden chair in a dark basement.
May you like
A second text message quickly flashed across the bright, cracked screen.
"Bring the master ledger to the old shipyard by dawn, or your little sister dies in pieces."
