Chapter 4 - The Ambush in the Lower Garage and the Badge That Refused to Turn Away
"Run, Mia!" Ethan roared, grabbing a heavy metal keg standing near the delivery bay and shoving it violently down the wet concrete ramp.
The heavy steel keg slammed into the lead security guard's knees with a sickening crack, sending him sprawling across the slick alley pavement.
Gavin drew his weapon, but Ethan was already moving with lethal athletic precision. Before Gavin could raise the muzzle, Ethan closed the distance, slamming his forearm into the guard's wrist. The gunshot went wild, shattering an overhead mercury vapor lamp in a shower of white-hot sparks.
Ethan drove a brutal palm strike into Gavin’s sternum, knocking the breath from the larger man's lungs. Gavin stumbled backward against the brick wall, coughing violently.
"Mia, the service gate!" Ethan yelled, snatching the wrapped plate from the wet asphalt where he had set it down.
They sprinted through the narrow iron service gate that opened into the adjacent underground parking facility. Behind them, Gavin's second guard was already in pursuit, shouting into a handheld radio for reinforcements to seal the perimeter.
Tires screeched on the lower level of the parking structure. A black SUV barreled toward them, headlights blinding them in the damp subterranean gloom.
"They cut us off!" Mia screamed.
The SUV slid to an aggressive halt five yards away. The driver’s door flew open.
"Get in!" a harsh voice barked from the driver's seat.
Ethan hesitated for half a second, his muscles coiled to fight, until he saw the gold shield hanging from a chain around the driver's neck.
Detective Marcus Vance. Chicago Police Department, Special Investigations Division—and the estranged younger brother of Bellweather's head chef, Antoine Vance.
"Ethan Brooks! Get her inside the vehicle before Pike's private goons pin you against the retaining wall!" Vance yelled.
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Ethan shoved Mia into the backseat and leaped in beside her, slamming the heavy reinforced door shut just as three bullets struck the ballistic glass of the rear window, leaving white spiderweb cracks but failing to penetrate.
Detective Vance slammed the SUV into reverse, spun the steering wheel in a flawless 180-degree J-turn, and roared up the exit ramp into the rain-slicked neon streets of downtown Chicago.
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