Chapter 15 - The Escape
The abandoned meatpacking plant erupted into complete chaos.
Lorenzo's men began panicking as police sirens wailed in the far distance.
Hannah's threat was not a bluff and the federal agents were already converging on the location.
Lorenzo screamed at his guards to grab Vincent and load him into the extraction vehicle.
He planned to use his son as a human shield to negotiate his way out of the country.
One of the guards reached down to drag Vincent off the bloody floor by his collar.
Vincent used the guard's momentum against him and swept his legs out from under him.
The heavy thug crashed to the tiles dropping his tactical flashlight and radio.
Vincent scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward the massive hanging chains of the slaughterhouse floor.
Gunfire erupted as Lorenzo's men blindly shot into the dark maze of hanging steel hooks.
Vincent ducked behind a rusted processing machine as bullets sparked against the metal.
He was unarmed and bleeding but his mind was sharper than it had ever been.
He knew this building better than Lorenzo's imported mercenaries did.
Vincent had memorized the blueprints of every Caruso property when he took over the empire.
He crawled silently through the bloody drainage trenches beneath the floor grates.
He could hear his father screaming absolute murder from the loading docks.
Lorenzo was ordering his men to burn the building down with Vincent inside it.
The smell of gasoline quickly filled the freezing air as the mercenaries began dousing the walls.
Vincent reached the emergency maintenance hatch located near the old boiler system.
He pushed the heavy iron lid open and climbed up into the narrow ventilation shaft.
Flames suddenly roared to life below him consuming the factory floor in a blinding inferno.
Vincent crawled rapidly through the choking smoke and kicked out the exterior vent grate.
He tumbled out onto the frozen grass of the alleyway just as the first FBI tactical trucks arrived.
He did not wait around to answer questions or give statements to the authorities.
He slipped into the shadows and stole an abandoned delivery van parked down the street.
Vincent drove desperately toward the safe house location Hannah had transmitted to his encrypted phone.
His chest ached and his hands were completely covered in dirt and soot.
But a massive smile broke across his bruised face as he drove through the empty city streets.
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He realized his wife was not just a survivor of his dark world.
She had become the absolute undisputed queen of it.
