Chapter 5 - Into the Underworld
They hit the wet asphalt of the alley just as a shout echoed from the apartment window above them.
"They're on the fire escape! Cut them off at the mouth of the street!"
Jack grabbed Alara’s jacket sleeve, yanking her hard into the pitch-black crawlspace beneath an external staircase of an adjoining warehouse. The space was cramped, smelling of rusted iron and stagnant rainwater, but it offered complete concealment from the main thoroughfare.
They crouched together in the mud, Alara shielding the babies' faces with her coat, her own breathing coming in ragged, terrified gasps. Beside her, Jack pressed his hand hard against his bleeding shoulder, his breathing shallow and rapid.
Heavy boots thundered past the mouth of the alley just feet away.
"Check the delivery vans! They couldn't have vanished into thin air!" a voice barked.
The search party fanned out, their flashlights sweeping erratic beams of light across the wet pavement, the golden cones missing the dark recess of the warehouse stairs by mere inches.
Alara looked down at the twins. Miraculously, neither Leo nor Stella had woken up; they remained deeply, unnaturally asleep, exhausted from the chaos of the night.
She turned her gaze to Jack. In the faint, reflected neon glow of a distant street sign, his face looked pale, almost ghostly, drained of color from blood loss. But his eyes were still locked outward, scanning the perimeter with cold, unyielding focus.
"You're bleeding out," Alara whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of fury and fear. "We can't stay in this city. If they have a system tracking you, they'll find us by sunrise."
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Jack lowered his hand from his shoulder, his fingers slick with dark blood. He looked at Alara, seeing the raw, unflinching courage in her eyes—a courage that had nothing to do with syndicates or guns, and everything to do with survival.
"We're not leaving the city," Jack said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that left no room for debate. "We're going to pay a visit to the man who ordered this."
