Chapter 10 - Blood in the River
They sprinted down the narrow concrete stairwell, descending into the bowels of the building rather than going up toward daylight. Elena led the way with grim certainty, descending beneath the parking levels into the old subterranean drainage conduits that connected the commercial district to the river canal. The air grew damp, thick with the stench of moss and stagnant river runoff.
""If we go up, we're cornered on the roof,"" Elena muttered, flicking on a small tactical penlight. ""The drainage tunnels empty out near the abandoned rail yards. We can lose them in the train cars.""
Behind them, the muffled crunch of the steel fire door giving way reverberated down the shaft. Heavy boots began their rapid descent down the metal stairs. Clara pushed through the stinging pain in her knees, wading into knee-deep, freezing water as they entered the vaulted brick tunnel. Her teeth chattered from the cold and absolute terror.
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Suddenly, Elena stopped dead in her tracks. The beam of her penlight cut through the gloom, illuminating a solitary figure standing at the junction where the tunnel split into two directions. He was soaked to the bone, his expensive suit ruined, his eyes bloodshot with an unhinged, feral madness.
""Did you really think you could run away from me, Clara?"" Mark whispered, stepping into the water. In his right hand, he held an old hunting knife; in his left, a radio transmitter. ""You took my ring. You took my future. And now, you're going to watch me take everything you have left.""
