Chapter 3 - Ambush on the Bridge
Metal screeched against metal as the patrol cruiser crashed hard into the concrete divider of the bridge.
The side airbags exploded in a cloud of white dust and blinding smoke.
Marcus’s head slammed against the steering wheel, sending sharp stars dancing across his vision.
Blood dripped into his left eye from a deep cut along his temple.
“Lily!” Marcus coughed, reaching blindly into the back seat.
The little girl was coughing on the floorboards, bruised but conscious.
Through the shattered driver-side window, Marcus saw the black SUV back up and position itself across the lane.
Two men stepped out of the vehicle, dressed in unmarked tactical vests and carrying suppressed handguns.
They were not standard hitmen; their disciplined movement signaled elite private security.
“Get down and stay flat!” Marcus shouted to Lily.
He unholstered his service weapon, kicked open the jammed driver door, and rolled out onto the wet asphalt.
A silenced bullet sparked against the steel door frame inches above his helmet.
Marcus returned fire, placing three precise rounds into the engine block of the oncoming SUV.
The lead gunman dove for cover behind the open vehicle door as coolant hissed across the roadway.
Marcus seized the split second of hesitation to pull Lily out through the broken rear window.
He grabbed her hand and bolted toward the pedestrian stairwell leading down to the underground transit level.
Footsteps pounded relentlessly behind them on the wet concrete.
Marcus and Lily slipped through an emergency exit door, tumbling into the dimly lit service tunnel of the subway system.
The heavy steel fire door slammed shut behind them, temporarily blocking the pursuit.
Marcus collapsed against the damp tiled wall, gasping for breath as he tied a clean handkerchief around his bleeding head.
Lily knelt beside him and gently tapped his knee.
Using the thick dust covering a maintenance locker, she quickly sketched the perimeter of an enormous mansion surrounded by water.
She drew an underground drainage pipe leading beneath a heavy iron gate.
Before Marcus could speak, every smartphone in the underground station began screeching in unison.
The piercing tone of an emergency broadcast echoed through the tiled corridors.
Marcus pulled his phone from his pocket and stared in disbelief at the glowing screen.
His own photo was displayed beside Lily’s face beneath bright red capital letters.
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The alert read: ARMED AND DANGEROUS OFFICER MARCUS REED HAS ABDUCTED A JUVENILE AFTER ASSAULTING MULTIPLE CITIZENS.
Underneath the photo was a final directive: AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE ON SIGHT.
