Chapter 5 - The Shattered Glass
I dropped the phone and screamed at everyone to get away from the exterior walls immediately.
I sprinted across the room and tackled Clara and Ellie violently to the floor.
Victor and his enforcers scrambled toward the reinforced steel door at the back of the room.
The digital timer hit zero, and a massive, deafening explosion ripped through the front of the safehouse.
The brick walls completely shattered, raining sharp shrapnel and heavy debris everywhere.
A terrifying shockwave threw me backward, knocking the air entirely out of my burning lungs.
Thick black smoke and the intense smell of sulfur filled the ruined apartment in seconds.
I dragged myself through the rubble, frantically searching for the mother and child in the darkness.
I found Clara coughing heavily, but she was securely shielding Ellie with her own body.
I helped them stand up as the surviving Chicago enforcers kicked the jammed rear door open.
We rushed out onto the rusty fire escape just as the floor of the safehouse completely collapsed.
We scrambled down the metal stairs, surrounded by the wailing sirens of approaching fire trucks.
Dante had completely destroyed our shelter, but he had failed to bury us in the wreckage.
We reached the alleyway and piled quickly into Victor's armored tactical vehicles.
Victor wiped blood from his forehead and swore he would tear Dante apart with his bare hands.
I told him we needed to reach the central train station before Dante realized we had survived.
We drove recklessly through the morning traffic, arriving at the bustling transportation hub.
I handed Clara a loaded pistol and told her to keep Ellie close to me at all times.
We blended into the massive crowd of commuters, moving swiftly toward the underground locker sector.
Clara's hands shook violently as she inserted the small brass key into locker number forty-two.
She pulled open the metal door and retrieved a thick, black leather notebook.
The ledger was completely safe, containing all the evidence needed to end this bloody war.
I smiled triumphantly and told the group it was time to leave the public area.
Suddenly, a little voice spoke up from beside my leg, holding up a shiny gold coin.
Ellie looked at me and said she wanted to use her third and final wish right now.
She wished that the scary men in the black suits would stop pointing their laser lights at us.
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I looked up in absolute horror and saw dozens of red sniper lasers painted directly on Clara's chest.
Dante's mercenaries had surrounded the entire train station terminal.
