Chapter 6: The Trap Snaps
Before Marcus could pass the silver drive into Leo’s outstretched palm, the violent screech of high-performance tires shattered the rhythmic drumming of rain in the alleyway below. High-beam headlights flared through the living room blinds, projecting stark, skeletal shadows across the peeling wallpaper.
Leo moved swiftly to the edge of the window, parting the wooden slats just enough to assess the street. Three unmarked black SUVs had completely cordoned off both ends of the narrow alley. Half a dozen men in dark raincoats and tactical gear were deploying across the building’s perimeter, led by a man in a tailored camelhair overcoat holding a heavy umbrella.
"Richard Sterling," Leo stated coldly, his eyes darkening.
Clara gasped in terror, glancing down at her phone screen resting on the kitchen counter. A tiny red tracking icon was blinking incessantly beside a third-party application. "My phone... Victoria gave me this smartphone for my birthday last year. She said it was a corporate perk... it had a hidden satellite tracker installed!"
"We must move immediately," Leo commanded with absolute composure. "Marcus, grab your medication and essential documents. Clara, take the flash drive and secure it inside your coat."
Heavy, aggressive footsteps thundered up the wooden stairwell, shaking the walls of the fragile walk-up. Within seconds, violent blows hammered against the thin wooden apartment door, threatening to rip the frame from the plaster.
"Morales! Open this door right now!" Richard’s arrogant voice boomed through the hallway with vicious venom. "We know Vance is inside! Hand over the telemetry drives and come out quietly, or I promise neither you nor your little designer stepdaughter will ever see tomorrow's sunrise!"
Leo steered Clara and Marcus toward the narrow kitchen at the back of the apartment, unlatching the rusted cast-iron window that opened onto the exterior fire escape. "Go down the fire escape into the rear courtyard. Julian has an armed private security convoy waiting two blocks east on Roosevelt Avenue."
"What about you, Leo?" Clara cried out, grabbing his arm, her eyes filled with desperate panic. "You can't stay behind alone!"
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"I am the one he wants, Clara," Leo said, his voice steady as iron as he gently touched her cheek. "I will buy you the time you need. Protect that drive with your life. The truth of this city is in your hands."
With a deafening splinter of wood and ripping steel, the front door gave way under the impact of a sledgehammer. Leo grabbed a solid steel scaffolding pipe from Marcus's tool corner, turned around, and faced the doorway with the unyielding poise of a gladiator.
