Chapter 4 - Route 9 Nocturne
"Step away from the door," Victor snarled, his barrel leveling toward Aubrey’s head.
Before he could pull the trigger, Leo appeared in the doorway behind him. He didn't fire his weapon; it was empty, the slide locked back. Instead, Leo grabbed Victor by the hair from behind, slamming his face down onto the blistering hot surface of the commercial flat-top grill.
A horrific hiss filled the kitchen as Victor’s skin met the grease-soaked metal. He screamed, a sound that didn't belong to a professional assassin, his arms flailing wildly as his gun discharged into the floorboards.
Crack!
With one final, massive blow from Aubrey’s cast-iron skillet, the rusted deadbolt on the back door gave way, spinning free. The heavy steel door flew open against the storm, and the howling wind rushed into the kitchen, bringing a sheet of cold rain that instantly filled the room with steam from the hot grill.
"Marcus, out!" Leo shouted, keeping his weight pressed down on Victor’s thrashing body.
The old cook didn't hesitate. He scrambled out into the dark, trash-strewn alley, vanishing into the torrential rain. Leo released Victor, who fell to the floor writhing in agony, and grabbed Aubrey by the arm, hauling her through the exit just as the remaining gunman entered the kitchen from the front.
They burst into the black night. The rain hit Aubrey like a physical blow, flattening her hair and soaking through her thin blue uniform within seconds. The alley was pitch black, lit only by the distant, flickering yellow of a streetlamp out on the main road.
"My car," Leo gasped, his breath ragged as he guided her toward a secluded gravel lot behind the neighboring diner warehouse.
Parked beneath a drooping willow tree was a massive, armored black sedan—a Mercedes S-Class with dark tinted windows. Leo reached into his pocket, hit the remote, and the car's headlights flashed once, a clean, white beacon in the storm.
They ran toward it, their shoes splashing through deep puddles of muddy water. From behind them, the kitchen door slammed open again, and flashes of muzzle fire illuminated the dark brick of the alley. Bullets threw up small geysers of gravel around their feet.
Leo shoved Aubrey into the passenger seat, slamming the heavy, reinforced door behind her. It shut with a dull, vacuum-sealed thunk that instantly cut the roar of the storm down to a distant murmur. He vaulted over the hood, sliding into the driver's seat just as a round struck the driver's side window, leaving a spiderweb of white fractures in the bulletproof glass but failing to penetrate.
"Hold on," Leo said.
May you like
He slammed the key into the ignition. The V8 engine roared to life with a deep, predatory growl. He threw the transmission into reverse, slamming the heavy vehicle into one of the black sedans that had tried to block the alley exit. The impact was massive, throwing Aubrey against her seatbelt, but the armored Mercedes didn't stall. It plowed through the lighter vehicle, spinning it across the wet asphalt like a toy.
Leo shifted into drive, mashed the accelerator, and the car shot out onto Route 9, its tires screaming against the wet asphalt as they vanished into the black, rain-swept horizon, leaving the burning red sign of the diner far behind them.
