Chapter 7 - The Underground Escape
Damian slowly raised his weapon, gesturing for me to stay perfectly quiet behind him.
He moved silently up the rusted metal ladder, pushing the heavy iron grate open just an inch to look outside.
The damp night air rushed in, carrying the distinct smell of ocean salt and rotting wood from the docks.
"It's an ambush," Damian whispered down to me, his voice barely audible.
"They have the exit surrounded, and I can see your old manager Denny tied to a chair out there."
My stomach dropped to my knees at the mention of my cruel former boss.
"Why would they bring Denny here?" I asked, pulling the children closer to my chest.
"Because he was the one who tipped them off tonight when you left the diner with me," Damian replied grimly.
He climbed back down the ladder, his mind clearly racing to formulate a new plan of attack.
"We can't go back, and we can't go up without walking into a firing squad," I stated, stating the obvious reality.
Damian looked around the damp tunnel before his eyes landed on a heavy electrical junction box on the wall.
"I can overload the dock's power grid from here and plunge the entire pier into total darkness," he suggested.
He used the butt of his gun to smash the padlock and ripped the metal door off the box.
Sparks flew wildly as he violently crossed the thick, high-voltage wires.
Above us, the faint glow of streetlights filtering through the grate instantly vanished.
"Now we move," Damian commanded, pushing the grate completely open and climbing out into the pitch-black night.
I handed the babies up to him one by one, my arms shaking from absolute exhaustion.
When I finally climbed out, the freezing rain greeted us again, hiding our movements in the shadows.
We silently crept past the confused mercenaries who were frantically trying to fix their flashlights.
We almost made it to Damian's hidden boat when a bright spotlight suddenly turned on, pinning us in its blinding glare.
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Mark stood on the deck of the boat, holding a detonator in one hand and smiling down at us.
"Did you really think I wouldn't wire my own boat with explosives?" Mark shouted over the storm.
