Chapter 6 - The Escape from Pier 42
The world descended into absolute chaos.
The concrete walls of the vault began to crack, dust and small debris raining down on us as the structural charges along the pier began to detonate in a rapid, rhythmic series of explosions. The floor tilted sharply, the heavy steel desk sliding across the room with a terrifying screech.
"Vivien, go!" Adrian roared, his hands wrapped tightly around Holloway's wrists as he wrestled the dying mob boss for the electronic detonator that could abort the secondary blast.
Marcus rushed forward, throwing my mother's limp body over his shoulder like a sack of flour. She had slipped back into unconsciousness from the sheer shock of the confrontation. Marcus reached out with his free hand, grabbing my arm with a crushing grip. "Miss Carter, we have to run right now! The staircase is going to collapse!"
"Not without Adrian!" I screamed, my feet slipping on the dusty floor as another explosion rocked the subterranean chamber.
"Go, Vivien!" Adrian commanded, his gray eyes locking onto mine through the haze of falling concrete dust. There was no monster in his face now; there was only a desperate, raw instinct to ensure my survival. "Protect the babies! I will be right behind you!"
Marcus didn't give me a choice. He hauled me out of the vault just as a massive concrete support beam crashed down right across the threshold, sealing the entrance behind us in a cloud of suffocating gray debris.
"Adrian!" I wept, my voice completely drowned out by the roar of the collapsing pier.
We scrambled up the spiral staircase as the metal steps twisted and groaned beneath our weight. The freezing river water was already pouring in from the cracked foundations, rising up to our ankles within seconds. My breath burned in my chest, my hands clawing at the concrete walls as Marcus practically carried both me and my mother up into the freezing night air.
We burst out into the storm just as the entire backend of the old brewery sloughed off into the black waters of the East River with a massive, earth-shaking splash.
The convoy of black SUVs was already idling, the doors thrown open as Adrian's remaining soldiers fired suppressive shots into the shadows, where Holloway's remaining scouts were attempting to cut off our retreat.
Marcus threw my mother into the back seat of the middle SUV and pushed me in right after her. "Drive! Get them to the safehouse in Westchester! Now!"
"What about the Boss?" the driver shouted over the roar of the engine.
Before Marcus could answer, the ground beneath the front entrance of the brewery exploded in a fountain of sparks and debris. A figure pulled himself out of the smoking crater, coughing violently, his charcoal suit shredded and soaked in blood.
Adrian.
He didn't look back at the collapsing ruins. He sprinted toward our vehicle, leaping into the front passenger seat just as the driver slammed the accelerator to the floor, the heavy armored SUV tearing away from the disintegrating pier just seconds before the entire structure vanished beneath the dark, icy waves.
Adrian turned around in his seat, his face covered in soot, his storm-gray eyes wild as he checked the backseat.
May you like
He saw me, shivering but unharmed, holding onto my unconscious mother. He let out a long, ragged breath, his head dropping against the headrest as the vehicle sped up onto the FDR Drive, leaving the graveyard of Pier 42 far behind us.
---
