Chapter 8 - The Countdown
Mateo's blood ran cold. He ripped open Julian’s designer cashmere jacket to reveal a brick of military-grade C4 wired to a heart-rate monitor wrapped around Julian’s wrist. When Mateo had struck Julian unconscious, Julian's heart rate had plummeted into a dangerous bradycardia, triggering a failsafe countdown.
The digital timer was rapidly ticking backward: 00:45... 00:44...
""Run!"" Mateo shouted, grabbing Clara by the arm and dragging her toward the shattered rear bay doors.
""What is that?!"" she cried out as they sprinted through the debris, dodging spent shell casings and shattered glass.
""Dead-man's switch! The whole pier is wired!""
They burst through the rusted corrugated door into the pouring rain just as the timer hit fifteen seconds. The Charger was too far away. Down below the wooden pier docks, an old motorized service boat bobbed in the churning black river water. Mateo didn't hesitate. He scooped Clara into his arms and leapt off the edge of the pier, plummeting twenty feet into the icy, churning currents below.
They hit the water just as the warehouse behind them detonated.
A deafening shockwave ripped through the night sky, instantly followed by a massive fireball that turned the midnight darkness into blinding daylight. Shrapnel, twisted steel, and burning timber rained down across the river, hissing as they met the cold water. The concussive wave slammed into Mateo and Clara underwater, disorienting them and dragging them deeper into the murky current.
Mateo kicked desperately, fighting the weight of his soaked clothes, his arm wrapped firmly around Clara’s waist. Her eyes were rolled back, unconscious from the shock. Using every ounce of stamina he possessed, Mateo broke the surface, gasping for air amidst the smoke and burning debris floating around them.
He hauled Clara onto the small, dilapidated maintenance dock on the opposite bank of the river, collapsing onto the splintered wood. He immediately began CPR, pumping her chest with measured rhythm.
""Come on, Clara. Don't you dare quit on me. Come on!""
After three agonizing cycles, Clara gasped, coughing up river water and curling onto her side, shivering violently. Mateo slumped back against a mooring post, breathing heavily, watching the inferno consume Pier 9 across the river.
May you like
Clara looked up at the burning skyline, then back at Mateo. ""He’s dead, isn't he? It's over?""
Mateo stared at the flames, a grim expression settling over his features. ""No. Julian wasn't the monster, Clara. He was just the leash. Now the old man is going to let the whole pack loose.""
