Chapter 3 - Escape Through the Underbelly"I am not going anywhere!" Rachel yelled, grabbing her medical bag from the chair where she had dropped it. "My patients are at the clinic! Mrs. Higgins needs her insulin refreshed tonight, and—"
"Mrs. Higgins was relocated twenty minutes ago by my Vanguard-watch detail," Dominic interrupted, grabbing her arm with a firm, inescapable grip. "You stay here, you die. You go back to Bridgeport tonight, you die. The only place safe from the Vanguard right now is my primary estate."
Before she could argue, the sound of shattered glass echoed from the front of the club. Heavy boots thudded against the floorboards, followed by the dry, distinct crack of silenced automatic gunfire.
"They found us," Grant cursed, unholstering a heavy Sig Sauer pistol. "Boss, the back alley is compromised. We have to take the drainage tunnel."
Dominic didn't hesitate. He hoisted Rachel over his shoulder in a fireman's lift before she could protest, ignoring her furious kicking and muffled curses.
"Put me down, you arrogant, overbearing Sicilian Neanderthal!" she shrieked, pounding her fists against his back.
"Save your breath for running, Doctor," Dominic muttered, kicking open a hidden panel behind the office bookcase that led down into the concrete gloom of Chicago's historic underground freight tunnels.
The air down below was damp, smelling of river silt and old coal dust. As gunfire echoed from the club above, Dominic set her down, keeping one hand firmly around her wrist as they sprinted through the darkness, guided only by the small tactical flashlight Grant held ahead of them.
"Why are they targeting you so aggressively now?" Rachel panted, trying to keep up with his long strides. "What did you do?"
"I refused to let them traffic medical supplies through our port," Dominic said over his shoulder, his breathing steady despite their breakneck pace. "And now, they’ve realized someone has been patching up my men using advanced surgical techniques right under their noses. They think you're my secret weapon."
May you like
"I am not a weapon!"
"In this city, Dr. Caruso," Dominic said, pulling her sharply around a concrete pillar as a bullet ricocheted off the wall behind them, "everyone is either a weapon or a target. And right now, you're mine to protect."
