Chapter 8 - The Underground Flight
The dark, vaulted storm tunnels beneath Milwaukee echoed with the deafening roar of rushing runoff water. Zachary held a tactical flashlight in his teeth, guiding me along the narrow concrete walkway while keeping his firearm ready in his right hand.
We moved as fast as our exhausted legs could carry us, the cold water splashing against our knees and soaking our clothes. Above us, the distant vibrations of police sirens and emergency vehicles rumbled through the storm grates.
"There is an access ladder three hundred yards ahead that opens into the basement of an Amtrak maintenance facility," Zachary shouted over the sound of the water. "I have a secondary transport vehicle parked in the employee lot under a company alias."
We reached the rusted iron ladder, climbing up through the narrow vertical shaft into the grease-stained boiler room of the rail depot. Zachary kicked open the heavy padlock on the exit door, leading us out into the cold night air where a dark grey pickup truck was parked near the tracks.
We jumped into the truck, and Zachary floored the accelerator, tearing out of the gravel lot and onto the southbound interstate ramp toward Chicago. The digital clock on the dashboard read 10:55 PM—sixty-five minutes remaining before the midnight deadline.
I opened the duffle bag, inspecting the sealed documents to ensure they remained dry inside their waterproof sleeves. "If Victoria realizes we bypassed her extraction team, she will activate her final contingency at the estate."
"She has already called an emergency press conference at the Lake Forest mansion for eleven-thirty," Zachary said, pointing at his phone screen mounted on the dash. "She is announcing your sudden psychological disappearance and filing the emergency conservatorship decree live on national television."
"She wants the public narrative locked in before the courts open tomorrow morning," I realized, my blood boiling with righteous fury. "She wants the whole world to believe I had a mental breakdown so no one questions the four-hundred-million-dollar transfer."
May you like
Zachary glanced at me, his eyes burning with an intense, unshakeable determination. "Then let's make sure the whole world watches her empire burn down live on camera."
He pressed the gas pedal to the floor, the heavy truck roaring down the empty highway at ninety miles an hour through the clearing storm. The city lights of Chicago began to shimmer against the southern horizon like a crown of thorns waiting for its queen.
