The gavel struck the mahogany stand, not with the dry thud of justice, but with the final, sickening finality of a guillotine blade hitting the floor.

The transport bus hit the spike strip at forty miles an hour.

The heavy tires blew with deafening concussions, the rubber shredding instantly. The driver lost control, the massive vehicle violently fishtailing before slamming hard into the concrete barricade of the bridge. The sound of crunching metal echoed over the dark water below.

"Move!" Chloe yelled.

They sprinted from the shadows. The two guards in the front cab were disoriented from the crash. Chloe didn't hesitate; she fired a warning shot through the windshield with the shotgun.

"Hands on the dash! Now!" she screamed.

Leo bypassed the cab, running to the heavily armored rear doors of the bus. He could hear shouting inside. He raised his gun, stepping to the side of the door.

"Silas! Get down!" Leo roared.

A split second later, a shotgun blast from inside the bus blew the hinges off the rear doors. The metal doors kicked open, and a Maroni guard stepped out, leveling a rifle. Leo fired twice, hitting the guard in the vest. The man went down, gasping for air.

Leo vaulted into the back of the bus. The emergency red lights flashed chaotically. The second guard was on the floor, bleeding from a brutal head wound. Standing over him, his handcuffs wrapped around the guard's throat like a garrote, was Silas.

Silas looked up, his chest heaving, his face battered and bruised. When he saw Leo holding a gun, the ruthless killer in Silas’s eyes shattered, replaced by pure, agonizing horror.

"What did you do, Leo?" Silas breathed, letting the unconscious guard drop to the floor. "I told you to run!"

"I don't take orders from you anymore," Leo said, his voice surprisingly steady. He tossed Silas a set of keys he had pulled off the guard. "Unlock the shackles. We’re leaving."