Chapter 7 - The Alleyway Ambush
Officer Miller spun around, abandoning the standoff inside to rush toward the side exit, kicking the heavy wooden door wide open. "Freeze! Police!"
Julian slammed the satellite phone against his chest, clutching it like a lifeline, while Lily grabbed the hem of his tuxedo jacket in sheer terror. Clara limped toward the open door, peering out into the twilight shadows of the alleyway where a thick plume of black smoke was already billowing into the evening sky.
"Marcus!" Clara screamed over the wail of a distant car alarm. "He's running to the underground parking garage!"
Cole drew a heavy-duty tactical flashlight from his trench coat, clicking it on to pierce the gathering gloom. "Stay inside, Julian. Marcus has armed security. That crash outside was a diversion."
Disregarding the warning, Julian handed the encrypted phone to Clara, swooped Lily up into his arms, and sprinted toward the open doorway. The crisp evening air hit his face, smelling sharply of burning rubber and gasoline. Just twenty yards away, Marcus’s black luxury sedan had smashed violently into a concrete retaining wall, steam hissing furiously from the crushed radiator.
Officer Miller was crouched behind a parked cruiser, his weapon drawn, shouting demands for the driver to exit the vehicle with hands visible. But the driver's side door of the wrecked sedan hung open, empty.
"He's gone," Miller cursed, scanning the shadows. "He must have slipped through the maintenance tunnel into the subway station."
Julian tightened his grip on Lily, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "He's not getting away with this. Not after what he did to my family."
"Wait, Julian!" Sarah’s voice suddenly blared from the satellite phone still clutched in Clara’s trembling hands. "Look at the license plate of that wrecked car. It's not Marcus's car. It's a trap."
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Julian froze mid-step, his eyes darting to the rear bumper of the smoking sedan. Scrawled across the license plate in fresh red spray paint was a single, terrifying word that made his blood run cold.
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