Chapter 4 - THE ARMORED CADILLAC
The shockwave tore through the underground bay.
Heat rolled over Delia’s face like an open furnace.
The delivery van erupted into a blinding ball of orange flame.
Black smoke billowed toward the concrete ceiling, choking the air with burning rubber and diesel.
Shrapnel whistled through the dark, clattering against the concrete pillars.
"Go!" Casimir ordered.
He didn't wait for her to run.
He scooped her up into his arms, lifting her off her feet as if she weighed nothing.
Her slate-blue dress caught on the edge of the steel compactor, tearing a jagged slit down the seam.
She clutched his neck, her face buried into his wool collar.
His chest was like solid stone beneath her hands.
Gunfire ripped through the burning smoke.
Thump-thump-thump.
Heavy rounds hammered into the side of the center armored SUV.
Casimir sprinted through the crossfire.
He kicked the rear passenger door open with his heavy boot.
He threw Delia inside onto the dark leather seat.
He dove in right behind her, slamming the reinforced door shut.
The lock engaged with a heavy, pressurized thunk.
CLANG. CLANG.
Two armor-piercing bullets struck the ballistic glass of the window beside Delia’s cheek.
The glass spiderwebbed in white circular fractures, but it held.
Delia gasped, her fingernails digging into the leather upholstery.
In the driver’s seat, a massive man with a shaved head threw the transmission into reverse.
Nico.
Casimir’s chief of personal security.
"They brought two technical trucks to the street ramp, boss!" Nico shouted over the roar of the supercharged engine.
"Ram them," Casimir commanded.
His voice was terrifyingly level.
He reached into the overhead console and pulled down a military-grade tablet.
He tapped the screen three times.
The Cadillac surged forward, its twin exhausts roaring against the concrete walls.
The heavy vehicle slammed through the wooden security barricade at thirty miles an hour.
It hit the first black pickup truck blocking the ramp.
The impact threw Delia forward against the back of the front seat.
Casimir’s left arm shot across her chest, catching her securely against the cushions.
The steel ram on the Cadillac’s front bumper crumpled the pickup truck’s engine block.
The pickup truck spun out of the way, screeching across the slick concrete.
The Cadillac burst up the ramp into the freezing night air.
Snow was falling thick over Manhattan.
Fifth Avenue was empty, transformed into a desolate white canyon of swirling ice.
Nico floored the gas.
The heavy tires found traction on the slush, hurling the vehicle north toward the parkway.
Delia sat back against the leather seat, gasping for breath.
Her hair had come completely undone from its pins, falling across her face in dark tangles.
Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
She looked down at her slate-blue dress.
The hem was ruined, soaked with grease and black water from the loading bay floor.
Casimir holstered his pistol beneath his coat.
He did not look winded.
His dark hair was barely displaced by the violence.
He reached into the console and pulled out a clean linen handkerchief.
He handed it to her.
"Wipe your face," he said.
Delia took the cloth.
Her fingers trembled so violently she could barely hold it.
She wiped a streak of black soot from her cheek.
"Why did you come for me?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
"You knew my father was a thief."
"You knew the company was hollow."
"Why walk across that ballroom for the daughter who has nothing?"
Casimir looked at her.
His pale eyes caught the passing neon lights of Fifth Avenue.
"Because the daughter who has nothing is the only person who knows where the forty-million-dollar ledger is hidden," Casimir said.
Delia froze.
"Forty million?"
"Your father didn't just steal my money, Delia."
"He stole the entire maritime pension fund for the eastern seaboard."
"And two hours ago, someone uploaded your digital signature to authorize the wire transfer."
Before she could speak, Nico called out from the front seat:
"Boss! We have two black Suburbans on our tail!"
"Crossing the 79th Street transverse!"
Casimir looked out the rear window.
High beams cut through the blizzard behind them.
May you like
Then, the rear window of the lead Suburban shattered.
A man leaned out holding a shoulder-fired rocket launcher.
