Chapter Twelve – The Escape
853 Words
The narrow service tunnel stretched endlessly beneath the East River.
The air was cold and damp. Every step echoed through the darkness as Emily and Victoria moved cautiously forward, their weapons raised.
Neither of them spoke.
The silence between them no longer felt uncomfortable.
It felt... natural.
Victoria stopped abruptly and held up her hand.
Emily froze.
"What is it?" she whispered.
Victoria knelt beside the ground.
Fresh footprints.
"They're following us."
Emily crouched beside her.
"How many?"
Victoria studied the marks.
"Three."
"No..."
She looked farther down the tunnel.
"Four."
Emily exhaled slowly.
"They're trying to corner us."
Victoria nodded.
"They know these tunnels almost as well as I do."
Several hundred meters behind them...
Volkov walked calmly through the underground maze, flanked by armed Black Vipers.
"Keep the pressure on them," he ordered.
"I don't want them dead."
"Not yet."
One of his men looked surprised.
"You want them alive?"
Volkov smiled.
"I want Victoria to watch everything she's built fall apart."
"And I want Agent Carter to question everything she believes in."
He looked ahead into the darkness.
"They'll break."
"They always do."
Emily and Victoria reached an old steel bridge crossing an underground drainage canal.
Rust covered every inch of the structure.
Victoria frowned.
"I don't like this."
Emily tested the first step.
"It should hold."
Victoria wasn't convinced.
"My father always avoided this bridge."
"Why?"
"He never told me."
Emily carefully stepped onto the bridge.
It groaned beneath her weight.
One step.
Then another.
Victoria reluctantly followed.
Halfway across...
A loud crack echoed through the tunnel.
Emily looked down.
The metal beneath her boot split open.
"Run!" Victoria shouted.
The bridge collapsed.
Steel twisted and snapped as both women jumped toward the opposite side.
Emily landed hard, scraping her hands across the concrete.
Victoria rolled beside her just as the bridge disappeared into the rushing water below.
They lay there for a moment, breathing heavily.
Emily laughed nervously.
"I guess your father had good instincts."
Victoria couldn't help smiling.
"He usually did."
Without warning...
Gunfire erupted from the tunnel behind them.
"They're here!" Emily shouted.
Four Black Vipers emerged through the smoke.
Victoria fired first.
One attacker fell instantly.
Emily dropped behind a concrete pillar and returned fire.
The tunnel exploded with deafening echoes.
A Viper rushed toward Victoria with a combat knife.
She sidestepped him effortlessly, grabbed his wrist, and threw him onto the concrete before disarming him with practiced precision.
Emily stared.
"You really weren't kidding about your father training you."
Victoria caught the knife before it hit the floor.
"He believed I should survive anything."
Another Viper aimed directly at Emily.
Before he could fire, Victoria threw the knife.
It struck the attacker's shoulder, forcing him to drop his rifle.
Emily quickly finished the fight with a precise shot to his leg.
The remaining attackers retreated.
"They're falling back," Emily said.
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
"They're buying time."
Deep inside the tunnel...
Volkov watched the battle through a tiny surveillance camera hidden in the ceiling.
"They're better together than I expected."
One of his commanders asked,
"Should we send reinforcements?"
Volkov slowly folded his hands.
"No."
"They're heading exactly where I want them."
He pressed a button on a remote control.
Far ahead of Emily and Victoria...
A massive steel blast door slowly began to close.
Emily and Victoria rounded another corner.
The sound reached them immediately.
A loud mechanical rumble.
Victoria's eyes widened.
"No..."
They started running.
The enormous blast door was sliding toward the ground.
"If that closes," Victoria yelled, "we're trapped!"
They sprinted with everything they had left.
The opening grew smaller.
Three meters.
Two.
One.
Emily dove first, sliding beneath the heavy door.
Victoria followed a split second later.
The steel slammed shut behind them with an earth-shaking crash.
Silence.
Emily rolled onto her back, breathing hard.
"We made it."
Victoria looked at the sealed entrance.
"Barely."
For the first time in hours...
There was no gunfire.
No shouting.
Only silence.
Emily leaned against the wall.
"I have a question."
Victoria looked at her.
"Why didn't you leave me back there?"
Victoria answered almost immediately.
"I don't leave people behind."
Emily smiled faintly.
"Even FBI agents?"
Victoria crossed her arms.
"Especially stubborn FBI agents."
Emily laughed.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Victoria surprised herself by laughing too.
It was quiet.
Genuine.
A sound she hadn't made in years.
Then her expression became serious again.
"My turn."
Emily nodded.
"Ask."
"When all of this is over..."
"Will you arrest me?"
Emily's smile disappeared.
She looked down at the floor.
The answer should have been easy.
Instead...
It was the hardest question she had ever been asked.
Finally, she looked back into Victoria's blue eyes.
"I don't know."
Victoria gave a small nod.
It wasn't the answer she wanted.
But it was honest.
And somehow...
Honesty meant more than promises.
Far above them, dawn was beginning to break over New York City.
Neither woman realized that while they fought to survive underground...
Someone had already begun attacking the Moretti empire from the outside.
By sunrise...
Nothing would ever be the same.
- Writer
