Chapter 39 - The Ambush on the Suspension Bridge
*"The state prosecutor, Daniel,"* the voice purred over the radio. *"Marcus Vance. Diane’s brother. The very man who helped you put Vanessa behind bars was the one who orchestrated this entire retrieval from the beginning."*
Before Daniel could respond, the heavy stone ceiling of the crypt shook violently. An explosion detonated above them, collapsing the spiral staircase in an avalanche of limestone boulders and dust.
"They're breaching through the floor!" Emily shouted, grabbing Mason by his jacket and hoisting him into her arms. "The maintenance tunnel leads to the old rail line behind the bridge! We have to move now!"
Daniel fired two warning shots into the dust cloud as heavy combat boots began rappelling down through the blast hole. He grabbed Emily's tactical pack, shoved her through the narrow iron tunnel door, and slammed the reinforced deadbolt shut behind them.
They ran through three hundred yards of pitch-black mining tunnel, coughing on stone dust, until the tunnel opened out onto the rusted maintenance catwalk of the Blackwood Suspension Bridge.
Two hundred feet below, the black, swollen waters of the Delaware River raged against jagged granite boulders. A blinding wall of fog and freezing rain swept across the iron trestles.
Parked halfway across the suspension bridge was an armored transport vehicle, its high-beam halogen lights cutting through the mist like twin blades.
Standing in front of the vehicle, holding an encrypted remote detonator, was Marcus Vance—dressed in a pristine charcoal suit, his prosecutor's badge glinting under the glare of the lights, surrounded by six heavily armed private contractors.
"Give me the boy, Emily," Marcus called out over the howling wind, his voice amplified by a megaphone. "The bridge is wired with C4 on both pylons. There is no Chicago lawyer. There is no federal protection. The entire state government belongs to the Sterling Trust."
Daniel stepped in front of Emily and Mason, his pistol empty, his knuckles raw and bleeding. "You used your own sister. You let Vanessa rot in prison just to keep my attention off you."
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Marcus smiled, a chillingly bureaucratic sneer. "Vanessa was an idiot with an impulse control problem. She was always meant to take the fall. Now, step aside, Daniel. Or I detonate the south pylon and let your son drown in the gorge."
***
