Chapter 3 - The Ambush on Kedzie Avenue
The neighborhood looked eerie under the sodium streetlights, smothered beneath nearly four inches of fresh, unplowed powder. Emma’s heart raced as Marcus pulled the black sedan up to the curb half a block down from her weathered brownstone on Kedzie Avenue.
""Lights are off on the third floor,"" Marcus murmured, his eyes sweeping the rooftops and alleyways with practiced precision. ""Front door latch looks untouched. You have one hundred and twenty seconds, Miss Callahan. I am accompanying you to the threshold.""
""I know where everything is,"" Emma said, unbuckling her seatbelt with trembling fingers. ""Under the bed. The lockbox and the orange duffel bag.""
Marcus unholstered a matte-black firearm from beneath his heavy wool coat, keeping it tucked discretely beside his thigh as he stepped out into the freezing wind. Emma scrambled out behind him, her boots sinking into the slush. The bitter cold bit into her cheeks, but she barely felt it; the adrenaline pumping through her veins made her world hyper-focused.
They bounded up the concrete steps. Emma jammed her brass key into the front door lock, twisting hard. It clicked open. The hallway smelled of boiled cabbage and old radiator dust—the familiar scent of her poverty that had kept her grounded for four long years.
She took the stairs two at a time, sprinting up to the third floor. Apartment 3B.
Her key slid into the deadbolt. She turned the knob and pushed the door inward.
The apartment was pitch black. Emma reached for the wall switch, but before her fingers could make contact, a massive hand grabbed her collar and yanked her backward into the hallway.
""Down!"" Marcus bellowed.
A deafening crack echoed through the narrow corridor. A bullet splintered the wooden doorframe right where Emma’s head had been less than a fraction of a second ago. Plaster rained down on her hair as Marcus shoved her flat against the floorboards, firing three rapid, suppressed shots directly into the darkness of her apartment.
A man’s guttural scream rang out from inside the dark living room, followed by the heavy crash of shattered furniture.
""They were waiting inside,"" Marcus hissed into his radio earpiece, dragging Emma by her coat collar toward the stairwell. ""Ambush at the secondary target. Vale, we are compromised. Moving to extraction.""
""My boxes!"" Emma sobbed, clawing at the wooden floorboards. Through the open door, in the dim light filtering through the window, she could see her mother’s orange duffel bag lying on the ruined carpet, soaked in spilled motor oil. A second man stepped out from her kitchen, holding a short-barreled shotgun, his face masked by a dark balaclava.
""Drop her, security boy!"" the gunman snarled, leveling the weapon.
Before the trigger could be pulled, the apartment window behind the gunman exploded inward in a shower of glittering, safety-glass fragments. A red laser dot snapped onto the center of the gunman's chest. A single, thunderous shot cracked through the night air from the rooftop across the street, and the masked man collapsed backward onto the floorboards like an empty suit.
Emma screamed, covering her ears.
""Move!"" Marcus commanded, hauling her to her feet and throwing her bodily down the stairs.
They burst through the front doors just as a sleek black luxury SUV screeched to a halt at the curb, spraying dirty snow across the sidewalk. The rear door flew open.
Roman Vale stepped halfway out into the storm, entirely unbothered by the freezing temperature, holding an unlit cigarette. In his left hand, he held the small, battered metal lockbox that Emma had kept tucked beneath her mother's mattress—the one containing Rebecca Callahan’s wedding ring, her death certificate, and their only family photo album.
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Emma tumbled into the snow at his feet, staring up at him in sheer disbelief. ""How... how did you get that?""
""I don't leave loose ends, Callahan,"" Roman said calmly, offering his gloved hand to pull her up. ""Now get in the car before the Chicago Police Department decides to earn their salaries tonight.""
