Chapter 6 - THE ESCAPE
Dominic’s eyes became black ice.
“They want Luca.”
Chloe grabbed the boy.
“You’re not getting him.”
Dominic looked at Carlo.
“Basement tunnel?”
“Still there.”
“Take them.”
Chloe shook her head.
“What about you?”
“I’ll hold them.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“You promised Luca you were coming back.”
“I am.”
“How?”
Gunfire tore through the living room.
Wood exploded from the wall.
Dominic pushed Chloe down.
“Go!”
Carlo opened a hidden door beneath the stairs.
A narrow concrete staircase descended into darkness.
Chloe grabbed Luca.
“Come on.”
Luca refused.
“Daddy!”
Dominic knelt.
“You need to go with Chloe.”
“No!”
“Listen to me.”
“I want you!”
Dominic grabbed Luca’s face gently.
“I know.”
His voice shook.
“And I love you.”
Luca stopped crying for one stunned second.
Dominic had not said those words in a long time.
Maybe years.
“I love you too.”
Dominic kissed his forehead.
“Go.”
Carlo pulled them underground.
The tunnel ran beneath three neighboring properties.
Behind them, gunfire erupted.
Luca sobbed.
Chloe kept moving.
“Don’t stop.”
They emerged inside an abandoned garage.
A black sedan waited.
Carlo drove.
Five minutes later, his phone rang.
Dominic.
Carlo put it on speaker.
“I’m clear.”
Luca cried.
“Daddy!”
“I’m okay.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“No.”
A lie.
Chloe could hear pain in his breathing.
“Where are you?”
“Changing vehicles.”
Carlo said, “Meet point?”
“Negative.”
“Why?”
Dominic paused.
“There’s a tracker.”
Everyone went silent.
“On what?” Carlo asked.
“I don’t know.”
Chloe checked Luca’s backpack.
His shoes.
Her coat.
Then she remembered.
The small silver ballerina.
Luca had put it in his pocket.
“Luca.”
He handed it to her.
Chloe examined the base.
Something tiny blinked red.
Carlo swore.
She threw it out the window.
Dominic’s voice turned cold.
“Somebody planted that tracker after the music box broke.”
Chloe stared.
“Inside your house.”
“Yes.”
Carlo’s face hardened.
“We have a traitor close enough to touch the kid’s belongings.”
Dominic said, “Go to Location Gray.”
Carlo hesitated.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The call ended.
Chloe asked, “What’s Location Gray?”
Carlo looked at her in the mirror.
“The one place Victor will never expect Dominic to hide.”
“Where?”
May you like
Carlo turned west.
“Elias Kane’s house.”
