Chapter 6 - Gas and Shadows
The acrid smell of burning sulfur filled the enclosed garage. Through the rear-view mirror, Julian saw thick gray billows rolling across the concrete floor like an incoming tide. The automatic garage shutters were reinforced steel—designed to lock down the hospital during biohazard containment, impenetrable to ordinary collisions.
""Put your head down!"" Julian roared.
He slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The heavy armored Maybach surged forward, its tires screaming against the polished floor. Lois covered her face, curling into the passenger footwell as Julian aimed the vehicle's reinforced bull-bar straight at the pedestrian emergency exit doors adjacent to the loading bay.
The impact was deafening. The concrete pillars shook, the glass of the windshield webbed with hairline fractures, but the steel gate crumpled and tore outward. The car burst into the pouring rain of the alleyway, skidding wildly across the wet asphalt before Julian regained control and sped into the traffic of Seventh Avenue.
Lois coughed violently, wiping grease and tears from her cheek. ""Where are we going? They control the police, the hospital, your family’s security...""
""We are going to someone who hates Christian Burke more than I do,"" Julian replied, dialing a number on his hands-free console.
The phone rang three times before an abrasive, gravelly voice answered. ""Julian? If you're calling me, it means Burke finally tried to kill you.""
May you like
""Worse, Jack,"" Julian said coldly. ""He tried to touch Lois.""
A heavy pause settled over the line. ""Bring her to the old docks on Pier 42. And Julian... don't look back. You’ve got three black SUVs trailing you two blocks behind.""
