Chapter 7 - THE BOMB IN THE WAREHOUSE
The red light on the detonator blinked once, a bright, terrifying pulse in the dim warehouse.
Answer one: Dominic hadn't come to pay Henderson. He had come to eliminate him, bringing explosives to erase the meeting entirely.
“You have exactly three minutes before this entire warehouse goes up in flames, Luca,” Dominic smiled, stepping backward toward a heavy steel loading door. “And the blast doors are wired to the timer. The second I walk out that exit, they lock down.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. I looked at the heavy metal doors surrounding us. They were massive, industrial grade. If they locked, we were buried alive.
“Drop the detonator, Dominic,” Luca said, his shotgun steady, but his eyes darting toward the exits.
“Shoot me, and my thumb comes off the dead-man switch,” Dominic laughed. “The timer accelerates to ten seconds. You’ll never make it out.”
Open two: If we shoot him, we die. If we let him leave, we are locked in and blown to pieces.
“Let him go,” I whispered urgently to Luca, grabbing his arm. “We have to get out of here.”
“If he leaves, the doors lock,” Luca gritted out, calculating the impossible odds.
Dominic’s two soldiers slowly backed up with him, keeping their weapons trained on us.
“It’s been a good run, Boss,” Dominic sneered. “But it’s my city now.”
He turned and pushed the heavy loading door open, stepping out into the freezing fog.
Clack.
The sound echoed through the warehouse like a gunshot. The heavy magnetic locks on every exit slammed into place.
The digital timer mounted on a support pillar above us blazed to life.
02:59.
“The doors!” Luca roared, dropping the shotgun and sprinting toward the nearest exit.
His guards threw their weight against the metal. It didn't budge. The locks were magnetic, powered by a separate generator.
02:45.
“Shoot the locks!” one of the guards yelled, firing a burst of automatic gunfire into the heavy steel mechanism.
Sparks flew, but the lock remained engaged. It was reinforced titanium.
“It’s not working!” I cried, panic finally clawing at my throat as the timer ticked down.
02:15.
Luca looked around the massive warehouse, his mind racing. He was the boss of the Chicago syndicate. He didn't panic. He analyzed.
“The explosives are wired to the support pillars,” Luca said rapidly, pointing to the thick concrete columns holding up the roof. C4 putty was packed around their bases.
“If we can't get out, we have to find cover that can withstand a structural collapse,” Luca ordered.
“There’s nothing in here but cardboard boxes!” a guard panicked.
01:30.
I scanned the room desperately. My eyes landed on the far corner of the warehouse, where an old, rusted metal cage sat partially covered by a tarp.
“What’s that?” I yelled over the chaos, pointing to the cage.
Luca squinted through the dim light. “It’s an old freight elevator shaft. They used to use it to lower cargo to the smuggling tunnels beneath the docks.”
“Is it reinforced?” I asked.
“It’s solid steel and surrounded by concrete foundation,” Luca said, realization dawning on his face. “If we get below floor level, the blast wave will go over us.”
00:55.
“Move!” Luca roared, grabbing my hand and dragging me across the warehouse floor.
The guards sprinted behind us. We reached the rusted metal cage. The heavy iron door was jammed.
“Help me!” Luca yelled, grabbing the bars.
Two of his massive guards grabbed the door with him, straining against the rusted hinges. With a deafening screech, the iron gate gave way.
00:30.
We piled into the small, cramped elevator car. It smelled of mildew and old grease.
“The winch is broken,” a guard said frantically, pulling a rusted lever. “It won't go down!”
00:15.
Luca didn't hesitate. He pulled a heavy tactical knife from his boot and looked up at the thick steel cable holding the elevator in place.
“Hold on to something!” Luca yelled.
He didn't try to cut the cable. He jammed the thick steel blade of the knife directly into the gears of the rusted winch mechanism above our heads and struck the handle violently with the butt of his gun.
The gears cracked.
The brake failed.
00:05.
The elevator dropped.
It wasn't a smooth descent. We plummeted in freefall into the absolute darkness of the subterranean shaft.
I screamed, closing my eyes and curling into a ball as Luca threw his arms around me, shielding my body with his own.
The elevator hit the bottom with a bone-jarring crash. The impact knocked the breath out of me, throwing us violently against the metal grate floor.
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And then, the world above us exploded.
TITLE: THE TUNNEL IN THE DARK
