Chapter 5 - The Estate Siege
Vanessa was thrown violently backward against the shattered refrigerators.
She dropped the assault rifle and collapsed onto the floor in a heap of ruined silk.
Silas quickly pumped another shell into his smoking shotgun and scanned the destroyed kitchen.
He looked at Dominic and asked if the boss was badly injured.
Dominic ignored his bleeding shoulder and told Silas to help them open the hidden trapdoor.
The three of them pulled the heavy iron grate up from the floorboards.
They carefully lowered the bleeding steward into the dark, damp smuggling tunnel.
Dominic ordered Silas to stay behind and hold off the remaining Whitmore forces.
Silas nodded grimly and barricaded the kitchen doors with a heavy metal prep table.
Dominic and Hannah climbed down the rusted iron ladder into the freezing darkness.
The tunnel smelled intensely of old earth and stagnant lake water.
Hannah pulled a small flashlight from the estate's emergency kit and lit the path.
She walked closely beside Dominic and checked his bleeding shoulder.
She told him the bullet had only grazed the muscle and he would survive.
Dominic said he was much more worried about his mother's current location.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his encrypted mobile phone.
He opened a highly secure tracking application and stared at the blinking red dot.
He explained that he had secretly placed a micro-tracker inside his mother's favorite pearl necklace years ago.
The red dot was moving rapidly away from the estate toward the industrial district.
Hannah looked at the map and recognized the exact destination.
She said the Whitmores were taking Eleanor to the abandoned steel mill on the river.
It was the same place they had tortured her uncle to death three years ago.
Dominic swore loudly and increased his pace through the dark tunnel.
The underground passage finally ended at a hidden wooden dock on Lake Michigan.
A sleek, black speedboat was tied to the rotting wooden posts.
They loaded Walter into the back seat and untied the heavy mooring lines.
Dominic started the powerful engine and steered the boat out onto the freezing water.
The icy wind whipped violently against their faces as they sped toward the city skyline.
Hannah sat near the front of the boat and stared coldly at the dark waves.
She told Dominic that they could not fight an entire army by themselves.
She said they needed a massive amount of cash to buy the loyalty of the city's mercenaries.
Dominic admitted his bank accounts were entirely frozen by Vanessa's father.
Hannah reached into her torn maid uniform and pulled out a small, metallic key.
She told him her father had left a hidden fortune entirely untouched in Chicago.
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She knew exactly where to get two billion dollars in untraceable cash.
The only problem was that walking into the shadow bank would trigger a global silent alarm.
