Chapter 5 - The Ghost of the Docks
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone, the terrifying text message burning into my retinas.
"Arthur, someone is tracking my phone," I warned him urgently.
Arthur quickly snatched the phone from my hand, rolled down his window, and hurled the device into the dark, rushing waters of the Chicago River as we sped across a bridge.
"We can't go to Pier 34," Arthur stated firmly.
"It's a blatant trap."
"Whoever saved us down there only did it because they want the Vanguard codes for themselves."
I looked back at Lily, who was finally waking up, her small hands rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Mommy, why is the window broken?" she asked, her voice trembling with sudden fear.
"It's just a little accident, sweetie," I lied smoothly, forcing a comforting smile.
"Keep your head down on your backpack; we are almost there."
Arthur navigated the stolen sedan into a dense, industrial shipping yard on the South Side.
He drove past rows of rusted shipping containers, finally parking the battered car inside an abandoned, echoing warehouse.
"We have to ditch the car," Arthur ordered quietly.
"Elena's people will have traffic cameras looking for this exact model."
He grabbed my arm and led us quickly toward a heavy steel door at the back of the warehouse.
He punched a complex security code into a hidden keypad.
The heavy door hissed open, revealing a brilliantly lit, state-of-the-art safehouse hidden completely from the outside world.
Computers hummed softly, and weapon racks lined the concrete walls.
"This is my personal blackout site," Arthur explained, locking the door securely behind us.
"Only I know it exists."
I sat Lily down on a plush leather sofa and wrapped a warm blanket tightly around her shoulders.
I turned to Arthur, my patience and my sanity completely exhausted.
"You need to transfer that trust fund to someone else immediately," I demanded.
"I don't care how you do it, but you are taking my daughter out of the crosshairs tonight."
Arthur booted up a massive supercomputer and began typing furiously.
"I can't just transfer it," he explained, his fingers flying across the glowing keyboard.
"I hardcoded the transfer protocols to require a physical, biometric scan of the primary beneficiary."
"Meaning, Lily has to physically place her hand on a Vanguard terminal to authorize any changes."
I felt the room spin violently around me.
"Are you telling me we have to walk into your corporate headquarters?" I gasped.
"The same headquarters currently occupied by the board that wants you dead?"
"Yes," Arthur confirmed grimly.
Before I could unleash the absolute fury building in my chest, the safehouse power suddenly flickered and died.
The room plunged into total, suffocating darkness.
The backup emergency lights failed to activate.
The heavy steel door we had just locked suddenly groaned and began to slide open with a terrifying screech of metal.
A single, blinding spotlight clicked on from the doorway, pinning us against the far wall like insects.
A tall, imposing figure stepped out of the blinding light.
He was wearing a perfectly tailored white suit and holding a silver-tipped cane.
"Hello, Arthur," the man said in a smooth, heavily accented voice.
Arthur stepped defensively in front of Lily and me, his hand instinctively dropping to his empty holster.
"Viktor," Arthur growled, recognizing the man instantly.
The man smiled warmly, like an old friend dropping by for tea.
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"I told you to bring the girl to Pier 34, Arthur."
"It is very rude to ignore an invitation from the Russian Syndicate."
