Chapter 9 - Trapped in the Annex
“There’s an old drainage tunnel beneath the utility basement,” Luca rasped, coughing into his hand. “It leads out toward the rail yard two blocks away. But the access hatch is electronically sealed from the main security console in the lobby.”
“Which means someone has to stay behind in the lobby to hold the override button,” Matteo said grimly.
“No one stays behind,” Enzo said. “We move as a unit.”
“Enzo, listen to me!” Harper grabbed his tactical vest, pulling him down to her eye level. “My father doesn't know you have the ledger yet. He thinks he’s just wiping out the DeLuca leadership. If I go to the front glass lobby, he’ll order his men to hold fire because he wants to torture me himself. It’ll buy you three minutes to get Luca to the hatch.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Enzo snarled. “I just spent three hours keeping you alive! I’m not serving you up to him on a silver platter!”
“It’s not a sacrifice, Enzo—it’s an ambush!” Harper pulled a bundle of C4 charges and a remote detonator from Matteo’s duffel bag. “You set the charges along the lobby pillars. I keep him talking. The second you get Luca into the tunnel, I blow the front entrance and drop the roof on his entire strike team.”
Enzo stared at her. The scared girl in the torn lace was completely gone. In her place was an assassin born from ten years of torment.
“You’re insane,” Enzo said, a fierce, reckless grin spreading across his face.
“I’m a Whitcomb,” Harper replied coldly. “Being crazy is in my blood.”
“Two minutes,” Enzo told her, his voice rough. He reached out, his gloved hand cupping the side of her face, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone. “You trigger the blast and run for the tunnel. If you die, Harper, I’ll bring you back to life just to kill you myself.”
“Deal,” she whispered.
They moved fast. Matteo and Enzo rigged three blocks of C4 to the load-bearing columns supporting the glass atrium of the front entrance. Luca was positioned at the basement hatch, ready to turn the manual release.
Harper took a deep breath, racked the slide on her pistol, and stepped out into the brightly lit, glass-walled lobby.
Outside, Preston saw her through the rain-streaked glass. He raised his hand, signaling his gunmen to lower their weapons.
May you like
The heavy glass doors slid open, and Preston walked in alone, smiling with the cold, dead eyes of a sociopath.
“There’s my good girl,” Preston said smoothly. “Did you miss your father?”
