Chapter 8 - Iron and BloodThe world exploded into a chaotic blur of white light, roaring steel, and shouting voices.
"Go! Go! Go!" Luca yelled over the deafening clatter of the freight train's brakes.
I sprinted across the gravel, my lungs burning, Sofia clinging to my back so tightly I could barely breathe. Dante laid down suppressing fire behind us, sending rapid, rhythmic bursts of lead into the pavement near the blinded Triad enforcers to keep them pinned behind their burning SUVs.
"Grab my hand!" Luca shouted, leaping onto the iron ladder of a rolling freight boxcar.
He caught the rung with one hand, his arm muscles straining under his suit shirt, and reached down with his other hand.
I lunged forward, thrusting Sofia upward. Luca grabbed her by her school jacket and hoisted her effortlessly inside the dark, cavernous belly of the boxcar.
"Leo! Grab on!" Luca yelled, extending his hand down to me.
I leaped off the ground, my fingers locking around his wrist with the last ounce of strength I had left. With a powerful, effortless jerk, Luca hauled me up and through the sliding metal door just as the train lurched forward with a massive metal groan, accelerating down the tracks.
Inside the dim boxcar, the air smelled of stale grain, rust, and dust.
Sofia was coughing, curled up in a corner on a pile of old burlap sacks. I dropped to my knees beside her, checking her over frantically.
"Are you okay? Did you get hit?" I gasped, my hands trembling as I checked her arms and legs.
"I'm okay, Leo," she whispered, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, leaving clean streaks through the grime on her face. "I'm okay."
I pulled her into my arms, holding her so tightly I thought my ribs might crack.
Across the dark car, Dante stood by the open doorway, his pistol raised, watching the receding rail yard through the gap in the metal doors as the train picked up speed, carrying us away from the city center.
Luca walked over, wiping a smudge of black soot from his forehead, his breathing steady and controlled as if we had just taken a casual Sunday stroll.
"They'll track the rail line," Dante warned without turning around. "Kenji isn't going to let us vanish that easily. Once they clear their vision, they'll mobilize every asset they have between here and the state border."
"Let them try," Luca said, pulling a leather cigarette case from his inner pocket, extracting a single cigarette, and tapping it against his thumb. He didn't light it; he just held it between his fingers as he looked down at me and Sofia. "We're not going to the border."
I looked up at him, wiping sweat and dirt from my eyes. "Then where are we going? If Vance and the Triad own the city, and the archives are locked... where is there left to run?"
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Luca's dark eyes met mine, holding a fierce, uncompromising resolve that sent a shiver straight down my spine.
"We aren't running anymore, Leo," Luca said quietly. "We're going to break into the federal courthouse ourselves. And we're going to use your sister's notebook to tear their entire empire down from the inside out."
