Chapter 6 - The Trap Collapses
CRACK.
Richard let out an agonizing shriek as the heavy iron bar shattered his left knee. His leg buckled instantly, and he collapsed onto the damp concrete floor, the revolver slipping from his fingers and sliding across the wet brickwork.
Before Richard could recover, Viktor moved like a thunderbolt.
Setting Clara down gently against the wall, Viktor lunged forward, kicked the revolver away into the dark, and slammed his heavy tactical boot directly onto Richard’s back, pinning the CEO to the floor.
With a swift, professional motion, Viktor pulled plastic zip-ties from his vest and bound Richard’s wrists tightly behind his back.
"Argh! My leg! You broke my leg!" Richard screamed, weeping in the dirt, his face pressed against the filthy bricks.
Marcus dropped the crowbar with a clatter. He collapsed to his knees, burying his face in his hands, shaking violently. "I didn't want to kill anyone... I swear... he threatened to fire me... he said he’d ruin my career..."
I walked over, picked up the dropped revolver, cleared the chamber, and tucked it into my belt. Then I looked down at Richard.
"The deal is off, Richard," I said quietly.
"You're... you're dead anyway, Vance!" Richard choked out, coughing on the advancing smoke. "Look behind you! The fire is coming! We're all going to burn down here!"
I ignored him and turned to the wall on our left. Hidden behind a hanging layer of damp canvas was a heavy iron wheel attached to a subterranean utility door—the service access to 4th Street.
I grabbed the wheel with both hands. It was rusted tight.
"Viktor, give me a hand!" I called out.
Viktor stepped over Richard, grabbed the other side of the iron wheel, and with a joint surge of brute strength, we forced the ancient mechanism to turn.
SCREECH.
The rusted metal gave way. The heavy iron door swung outward, revealing a concrete slope leading up to street level, where fresh night air and the flashing red-and-blue lights of twenty emergency vehicles were blindingly visible.
Sirens were blaring across the city.
I stepped out into the alley first, holding Lily’s hand, breathing in the cold, crisp night air.
Dozens of police officers, federal agents, and firefighters were already swarming the alleyway, rifles drawn, fire hoses being unspooled from trucks.
A tall woman in an FBI tactical vest stepped forward, her badge flashing in the strobe lights. "Arthur Vance?"
"Special Agent Miller," I said, recognizing her from a previous security briefing. "The suspects are in the tunnel. Richard Vance and Marcus Kane. Secure them immediately."
"Are you injured, sir?" she asked, gesturing for paramedics to rush forward.
"I’m fine," I said. "But we have a critical witness who needs immediate medical evacuation."
The paramedics rushed past us into the tunnel, carefully lifting Clara onto a gurney. Lily ran alongside the rolling bed, holding her mother’s pale hand tightly.
As they loaded Clara into the back of the mobile intensive care unit, Special Agent Miller held up a ruggedized tablet screen.
"Mr. Vance," Miller said, her face grim. "We received your cloud data feed five minutes ago. The video footage from the banquet hall and the stairwell is crystal clear. Federal warrants have already been executed on Vanguard Pharmaceuticals' headquarters."
"And the clinical trial files?" I asked.
"Pure fiction," Miller replied, shaking her head in disgust. "They faked the patient recovery data. The drug was completely toxic. If your acquisition money had cleared, Richard was planning to liquidate the company and vanish to a non-extradition country by sunrise."
I looked back at the hotel exit.
Police were dragging Richard out of the tunnel. His expensive white shirt was covered in sewage, his face streaked with soot and tears, his ruined leg dragging behind him as officers hauled him toward a armored transport van.
He looked up and caught my eye.
May you like
"Vance!" he screamed frantically. "Vance, help me! We can make a deal! I'll give you shares! I'll give you everything!"
I didn't say a word. I simply turned my back on him and walked toward the ambulance where Lily was sitting on the rear bumper, wrapped in a bright yellow emergency blanket.
