Chapter 8 - FIVE MINUTES TO LIVE
Lorenzo drew his weapon and fired into the lock.
Isabella screamed.
Nothing happened.
The reinforced steel door barely dented.
04:31.
“Nico!”
“Working on the exterior access.”
“There is no time.”
Matteo came running down the corridor.
Blood soaked one sleeve.
“There’s another way.”
“Where?”
“Below Isabella’s cabin is a maintenance chamber. We cut through the floor.”
“With what?”
“Emergency saw.”
04:09.
They ran.
Lower deck.
Water already seeped through seams in the old hull.
The maintenance chamber smelled of oil and rust.
Matteo found a powered saw.
Lorenzo took it.
“Where?”
Matteo pointed overhead.
“There.”
Lorenzo began cutting.
Sparks filled the compartment.
03:42.
Metal screamed beneath the blade.
Nico and two men joined them.
“Gabriel’s launch is gone.”
“He left?”
“Probably before we arrived.”
Lorenzo kept cutting.
Coward.
Gabriel had designed the entire thing to kill Lorenzo and Isabella while he escaped.
03:17.
The saw jammed.
Lorenzo ripped it free.
Again.
Again.
His arms burned.
Blood ran from his palms.
02:51.
A section of metal dropped.
Above them, Isabella screamed.
“Lorenzo?”
“I’m here.”
They widened the opening.
Nico climbed through.
Thirty seconds later, Isabella dropped into Lorenzo’s arms.
For eight months he had dreamed about holding her again.
Not like this.
No time.
He touched her face once.
“You’re real.”
She touched his.
“So are you.”
02:13.
“Move!”
They ran toward the stern.
The vessel shook.
A smaller explosion ruptured something below.
Water rushed into the corridor.
01:57.
Matteo stumbled.
Lorenzo caught him.
“Go.”
Matteo pushed him away.
“Leave me.”
“Not tonight.”
“You hate me.”
“Yes.”
Lorenzo dragged him upright.
“That doesn’t mean you die here.”
They reached the rear deck.
Nico’s men were lowering ropes toward the dock.
The ship had drifted six feet away.
01:22.
Isabella crossed first.
Then Nico.
Then Lorenzo helped Matteo.
00:57.
Matteo stopped.
“What?”
“My phone.”
“Forget it.”
“It has Gabriel’s files.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“Where?”
“Cabin three.”
“Leave it.”
“It proves everything. Judges. Murders. Your father.”
00:43.
Matteo turned back.
Lorenzo grabbed him.
“You go back, you die.”
“Maybe that’s fair.”
“No.”
For the first time, Matteo looked at him directly.
“I put Isabella in that car.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
“I told Gabriel the route.”
Isabella stood on the dock behind them.
Her eyes hardened.
Matteo continued.
“I thought they would take her. I didn’t know they planned to hit the convoy with explosives.”
“You still betrayed us.”
“Yes.”
00:29.
Matteo pulled a small drive from inside his shirt.
“But I already copied the files.”
He handed it to Lorenzo.
“You idiot,” Lorenzo whispered.
Matteo smiled.
“Learned from you.”
00:18.
They jumped.
Nico pulled them onto the dock.
Everyone ran.
00:07.
Lorenzo threw Isabella behind a concrete barrier.
00:03.
00:02.
00:01.
The Red Queen exploded.
The night turned white.
Metal lifted into the air.
Windows shattered three blocks away.
The blast knocked Lorenzo unconscious.
When he opened his eyes, rain fell on his face.
His ears rang.
Someone was shouting.
Isabella.
He sat up.
She was alive.
He grabbed her and pulled her against him.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
They simply held each other.
Eight months collapsed between them.
Then Isabella whispered:
“Where is Lucia?”
Lorenzo laughed and cried at the same time.
“Safe.”
“I need to see her.”
“You will.”
“Now.”
He helped her stand.
An hour later, they entered the secure medical house in Westchester.
Sophia came into the hallway.
She saw Isabella.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Then Emma appeared.
“Baby’s mommy!”
Isabella stared at her.
Lorenzo led her toward the nursery.
The door opened.
Lucia slept in a crib beneath warm lamplight.
Isabella stopped.
Her legs gave out.
Lorenzo caught her.
“She’s alive,” he whispered.
Isabella crawled the final distance to the crib.
She reached through the rails.
Touched Lucia’s hair.
The baby woke.
For one frightening second Lucia only stared.
Then Isabella began humming.
A lullaby.
The same one she had sung during pregnancy.
Lucia’s eyes widened.
Her small hands reached upward.
Isabella lifted her.
And broke.
“My baby.”
Lucia touched her mother’s lips.
Isabella kissed every finger.
Every cheek.
Her hair.
Her forehead.
Lorenzo sat beside them.
For a few minutes, the world contained nothing except the three of them.
Then Isabella looked up.
“Lorenzo.”
“What?”
“There is something you don’t know.”
He saw fear in her eyes.
“What?”
“Gabriel didn’t keep me alive only because of the accounts.”
“Why else?”
“He wanted something from me.”
“What?”
Isabella held Lucia tighter.
“Your father left something behind.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“My father didn’t keep ledgers.”
“This one wasn’t about money.”
“What was it about?”
“Names. Evidence. Every official Gabriel and Salvatore controlled thirty years ago.”
“Where is it?”
Isabella shook her head.
“I never knew.”
“Then why did Gabriel need you?”
“Because he believed you knew.”
“I don’t.”
“He didn’t believe that either.”
Lorenzo looked at Lucia.
“Gabriel is running now.”
“No.”
Isabella’s face had gone pale.
“What do you mean?”
“He won’t run.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he told me what he would do if you ever rescued me.”
Lorenzo felt a chill.
“What?”
Isabella looked toward the hallway.
“He said he would take away the one thing you had left.”
Lucia began crying.
Then the lights went out.
Every alarm in the safe house died.
Nico’s voice shouted downstairs.
“INTRUDER!”
Gunfire exploded beneath them.
May you like
Lorenzo reached for his weapon.
And from somewhere inside the supposedly secure house, a man began climbing the stairs toward his family.
