Chapter 11 - The Iron Yard
The massive steel cowcatcher of the freight locomotive pulverized the timber crossing gate, sending splintered oak and metal fragments tearing through the air. The snipers on the high gantry fired wildly, but their high-caliber rounds ricocheted harmlessly off the reinforced iron boiler plates of the moving train.
"Run!" Mateo roared, scooping Elena into his arms and sprinting parallel to the churning steel wheels.
The train cars created a moving wall of solid iron, cutting off Sterling's line of sight. Behind them, automatic rifle fire tore into the wooden ties of the railroad track, throwing up clouds of wet gravel and creosote dust. Mateo ducked between two idling tank cars, dodging into the shadow of an abandoned freight transfer depot.
"Mateo! Over here!" a voice rasped from the gloom.
From the rusted doorway of a trackside maintenance shed, Detective Frank Vance emerged. His tactical vest was shredded, his face bruised and blackened by soot, but he was gripping a scoped hunting rifle he had pulled from his personal vehicle.
"Frank?" Mateo skidded to a halt on the wet gravel, bringing his weapon up before recognizing his partner. "You made it out of the precinct?"
"I went out the utility intake while Cole was blowing the evidence safe," Vance breathed heavily, clutching his cracked ribs. "Sterling’s whole tactical squad is dirty. The state police won't intervene—the commissioner’s office issued a gag order calling this an internal anti-corruption sweep. We're completely cut off."
"Brad is at the military base thirty miles north," Mateo said, setting Elena down behind a pallet of rusted brake shoes. "Sterling says they already have his blood. They just need Elena’s retinal scan to decrypt the formula."
Vance looked down at Elena, his expression a mixture of horror and profound guilt. "David didn't just hide the decryption key in her eyes. He used a medical laser to etch the sequence into the back of her iris. It’s harmless to her, but it requires a specialized retinal scanner to read."
"Where is the scanner?" Mateo asked.
May you like
Vance swallowed hard, glancing toward the southern highway where the headlights of four pursuit vehicles were already fanning out across the perimeter. "Cole has the scanner. And he’s heading to the military clinic right now to finish the harvest."
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