Chapter 14 - The Final Stand
"Julian, grab the laptop!" Miller shouted, coughing violently as he kicked open his jammed driver's side door, blood trickling down his forehead from a gash near his temple.
Julian didn't hesitate. He unbuckled Lily from her seatbelt, pulling her into his arms alongside the infant in the gold dress, and snatched the laptop off the floorboard just as a bullet shattered the passenger-side window, spraying glass across the upholstery.
"Keep your head down, baby girl," Julian whispered fiercely into Lily's ear as he kicked open the rear door and tumbled out onto the pavement behind the concrete median barrier.
The two masked assailants advanced methodically, firing suppressive rounds into the concrete divider. Miller drew his service weapon, returning fire over the hood of the wrecked police car, forcing the attackers to take cover behind their SUV.
"We have to move! Now!" Miller yelled, signaling toward an open subway entrance fifty feet down the block.
Julian clutched the children tighter, his muscles screaming with exhaustion and adrenaline, and bolted down the sidewalk toward the subterranean stairs, the laptop clutched securely under one arm. Bullets whined off the metal handrails as they plunged into the dim, cool refuge of the subway station, leaving the street shootout behind.
They descended deep into the subterranean tunnels, the roar of an oncoming train echoing through the subterranean concrete corridors. Julian’s lungs burned, his tuxedo jacket was ruined, and his hands were covered in soot and blood, but he had the flash drive, the laptop, and, most importantly, his daughters safe with him.
They boarded a crowded downtown express train just as the doors slid shut, the heavy steel carriages pulling away from the platform seconds before the masked pursuers reached the top of the stairs. Julian collapsed onto a metal bench inside the train, pulling Lily close to his chest as she finally fell into a peaceful, exhausted sleep.
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The train surged forward through the dark tunnels, carrying them toward federal headquarters and the ultimate reckoning. But as Julian checked the screen of the laptop to ensure the data was intact, a pop-up notification flashed across the monitor, freezing his blood.
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