Chapter 12 - THE RIVERBANK ESCAPE
The underground tunnel was dark, damp, and smelled of wet earth and rusted iron.
Enzo led the way with a tactical flashlight in one hand, his pistol ready in the other.
Adeline followed closely behind him, the heavy shotgun clutched in her right hand, her left arm pressed tightly against her torso to minimize the agony of her wound.
"Are you still bleeding?" Enzo asked over his shoulder, his voice echoing in the confined space.
"I'm fine," she panted, her breathing ragged.
"Just keep moving."
After ten agonizing minutes of crawling and stumbling through the dark, a sliver of pale moonlight appeared ahead of them.
The end of the tunnel.
Enzo pushed open the rusted iron grate, stepping out onto the muddy banks of the swollen river.
The cold night air hit them like a splash of ice water.
Parked fifty yards downstream, half-hidden beneath the overhanging willow trees, was Enzo's backup speedboat.
"We're almost there," Enzo encouraged, wrapping his arm around her waist to support her weight as they splashed through the shallow river mud.
Suddenly, the roar of a helicopter engine cut through the night sky above them.
A blinding spotlight snapped on, descending from the clouds and bathing the riverbank in a harsh, glaring white illumination.
"Down!" Enzo screamed, tackling Adeline into the tall reeds just as a burst of heavy machine gun fire chewed up the mud where they had been standing.
The helicopter hovered overhead, its downdraft flattening the grass around them.
"It's Vance's private chopper," Enzo muttered, peering up through the reeds.
"They spotted us."
"We can't outrun a helicopter on foot," Adeline said, her eyes fixed on the speedboat fifty yards away.
"We don't have to outrun it," Enzo replied with a dark, dangerous smile.
He reached into his tactical vest and pulled out a military-grade satellite jammer device, flipping the toggle switch to maximum power.
"What is that?" Adeline asked.
"It blinds their targeting computer," Enzo said.
He pressed the activation button.
Above them, the helicopter's spotlight flickered wildly, the instrument panels inside the cockpit short-circuiting as the pilot lost all guidance controls.
"Now!" Enzo roared, hauling Adeline to her feet.
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They sprinted the remaining distance to the speedboat, leaped aboard, and Enzo slammed the throttle forward, sending the vessel surging downriver into the safety of the dark canyon.
THE END OF CHAPTER 12
