Chapter 8 - The Ultimate StandThe color completely drained from Adrian’s face. For the first time since I met him, the untouchable mafia boss looked utterly, hopelessly trapped.
"You wouldn't," Adrian whispered, the gun wavering an inch in his grip.
"Try me," Karen laughed, pulling a small black remote from her pocket with a blinking red LED light. "I planted four C4 charges right beneath the floorboards of the nursery five hours ago. One click, and little Emma turns to ash."
My fingers wrapped tightly around the burner phone in my pocket. I knew Julian’s security details, and I knew how these syndicate operations communicated. While they were busy locked in a Mexican standoff, I quietly pulled the phone out, dialed a pre-programmed speed-dial number I had set up with Detective Maria Santos, and hit speaker at the lowest volume, sliding it onto a wooden crate behind me.
"You're a coward, Julian," Adrian said, keeping his gun locked on his rival while his entire body trembled with suppressed rage. "You couldn't beat me in the streets, so you target an infant."
"In business, Adrian, there are no rules—only winners and losers," Julian replied, stepping forward with his own pistol raised. "And tonight, you lose everything."
Julian’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Now.
From the top of the basement stairs, a blinding flash of tactical floodlights suddenly illuminated the entire corridor.
"Chicago Police Department! Drop your weapons! Nobody move!"
Detective Maria Santos burst down the stairs at the head of a heavily armed SWAT team, rifles raised and laser sights painting Julian and Karen in a grid of crimson dots.
"Drop the detonator, Karen!" Santos screamed, leveling her shotgun directly at the nanny's chest.
Karen panicked, her thumb slamming down onto the red button on the remote.
Click.
Nothing happened.
Karen's face twisted in sheer confusion. She pressed it again. Click, click.
From behind the concrete pillar, I stepped forward, holding up a small handheld signal jammer I had swiped from Julian's coat pocket while he was distracted in the hallway.
"Looking for this?" I smiled coldly.
Julian spun around in fury, raising his gun toward me, but before he could pull the trigger, Adrian moved with blinding, animalistic speed. He lunged across the concrete floor, tackling Julian to the ground in a brutal, bone-crunching impact that sent both guns sliding across the floor.
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Within seconds, the SWAT officers swarmed them, slamming handcuffs onto Julian, Karen, and the remaining guards.
The nightmare was finally over. Or so I thought.
