Chapter 24 - Flight Through the CatacombsThe service tunnels beneath San Gabriel Civil Hospital were a maze of steaming industrial pipes, electrical conduits, and forgotten storage chambers that stretched for miles beneath the city streets. The air was thick with the smell of rust, damp concrete, and ozone.

My breath came in ragged gasps as I sprinted through the darkness, using the narrow beam of my cell phone flashlight to navigate the uneven floor. Behind me, the muffled shouts of the mercenaries echoed through the hollow concrete corridor.

"Sweep the secondary junctions! He can't have gone far!"

I knew these tunnels better than anyone. Ten years ago, when the hospital was under siege, I had mapped every drainage pipe and utility conduit. But age and exhaustion were catching up to me. My legs burned, and my chest ached with every inhalation.

I ducked behind a massive brick structural pillar just as the sweep of a tactical flashlight cut across the damp wall a few yards away.

Click. Clack.

Boots sloshed through a puddle of standing water dangerously close to my hiding spot.

I reached into my pocket, pulling out my phone. My hands trembled so badly I dropped the device twice before successfully unlocking the screen. I needed to call Sofia. I needed to tell her to lock the house, grab her brothers, and run to the local police station.

I dialed her number.

Rring... Rring... Rring...

"Come on, Sofia, answer," I muttered under my breath, my heart pounding in my throat.

Suddenly, a bright beam of tactical light blinded me from the left.

"Found him!" a voice barked.

I lunged to the side just as a suppressed weapon fired into the brick wall beside my head, sending a shower of sharp stone fragments flying into my face. I scrambled up an old iron maintenance ladder bolted into the side of a massive vertical drainage shaft, climbing as fast as my aching arms would allow.

"Halt!" the guard shouted from below.

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I didn't look back. I pumped my legs, hoisted my body through a rusted access hatch at the top of the ladder, and slammed the heavy iron lid shut just as a bullet ricocheted off the steel rim.

I dropped the locking pin into place, panting heavily, realizing with a chill of absolute terror that the hatch led out into the open alleyway directly behind my own home.