Chapter 3 - THE MAN INSIDE
“Move!”
Gabriel pulled Claire toward the kitchen while Mason covered the hallway.
Eli was screaming now.
Claire kept his face pressed against her chest.
Gunfire cracked behind them.
A bullet hit the refrigerator door.
Claire flinched.
Gabriel shoved her behind the marble island.
“Stay down.”
“Where are you going?”
“To end this.”
“Gabriel—”
He was already gone.
Two armed men came through the side hall.
Gabriel fired.
One dropped his weapon and collapsed behind a table.
The other disappeared through the doorway.
Mason came around the opposite side.
“Basement tunnel!”
Gabriel nodded.
The safe house had been built for emergencies exactly like this.
Except an emergency should never have reached it.
Claire ran downstairs.
Halfway down, Eli stopped crying.
That frightened her more.
“Eli?”
His eyes were open.
He was breathing.
Just exhausted.
“Come on, baby.”
A masked attacker appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Claire froze.
He raised his weapon.
Gabriel fired over Claire’s shoulder.
The attacker fell backward.
Claire stared at Gabriel.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
Gabriel took her hand.
“Then run.”
They reached the basement.
Mason entered a code into a steel panel.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
“Come on.”
Red letters flashed.
ACCESS DENIED.
Gabriel stared at him.
“Someone changed the code.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Apparently not.”
Footsteps thundered above.
Claire looked around.
Laundry room.
Boiler.
Wine storage.
One small ground-level window.
Too narrow.
Then she saw the old coal chute.
“That.”
Mason looked.
“You’ll never fit.”
“I will.”
Gabriel understood.
“No.”
Claire stared at him.
“You have another idea?”
Gunfire hit the basement door.
Gabriel swore.
Claire wrapped Eli tighter.
“Help me.”
Mason kicked open the rusted chute cover.
Claire climbed in.
The tunnel was filthy and narrow.
Gabriel followed.
“Go!”
They crawled twenty feet through mud before reaching an iron grate.
Claire kicked once.
Twice.
It opened.
Cold rain hit her face.
They emerged behind the neighboring building.
A black SUV waited in the alley.
Mason’s backup team arrived seconds later.
They escaped as flames rose behind the safe house.
Twenty minutes later, Gabriel sat in the SUV, silent.
Claire held Eli beside him.
Mason received a call.
He listened.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“We got one alive.”
“Who?”
“Attacker from the kitchen.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“Bring him to Warehouse Nine.”
Claire looked at him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Ask questions.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
Gabriel met her eyes.
“No. It isn’t.”
At Warehouse Nine, the surviving attacker sat tied to a chair.
He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.
Gabriel walked in.
The young man tried to look tough.
Gabriel placed Nathan’s ring on the table.
“Who sent you?”
Silence.
Gabriel sat opposite him.
“Let me save us both time. I know Cross didn’t find that safe house by accident.”
Still nothing.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“You attacked a sleeping infant.”
The man swallowed.
“That changes the rules.”
“I don’t know anything.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“Wrong answer.”
The man’s confidence cracked.
“Wait.”
Gabriel paused.
The attacker looked at Claire through the glass wall.
Then he laughed nervously.
“You people still don’t get it.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Get what?”
“Cross isn’t running this.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Gabriel leaned closer.
“Who is?”
The man looked directly at him.
“Ask your uncle.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“Vincent sends his regards.”
