Chapter 46 - Under the Steel Canopy
The sub-Chicago freight tunnels were a forgotten maze of concrete tubes fifty feet below the city streets, once used to haul coal and merchandise into the basements of historic skyscrapers. Tonight, they were our highway into the heart of the beast.
We left Mateo in the bunker under the protection of two of Marcus's most trusted veteran snipers, surrounded by redundant air filtration and enough claymore mines to level a city block if breached. Leaving him tore my heart out, but Mateo had hugged me fiercely around the neck before we left.
*"Bring Dad back, Mom,"* he had whispered into my ear. *"And make them pay for hurting our family."*
Those words were my armor now.
We moved through the pitch-black tunnels in silence, our footsteps muffled by tactical boots. Marcus took point, sweeping the ancient narrow-gauge rail tracks with night-vision optics. Dante walked behind him, breathing steadily through his nose, using every ounce of his remaining strength to control his tremors. I brought up the rear, carrying a specialized cryo-containment rig strapped to my chest—empty for now, but intended to hold the antidote that would save Dante's life.
"Halt," Marcus whispered, raising a clenched fist.
We froze against the damp concrete wall. Fifty feet ahead, the freight tunnel intersected with the raw foundation caissons of Castiglione Tower. Through the thermal scope, Marcus identified three sentries in heavy composite body armor, guarding a reinforced steel hatch cut directly into the skyscraper’s foundational sump.
"Thermal sweeps active," Marcus murmured. "They're scanning the tunnel floor for heat signatures."
"Not the ceiling," Dante muttered, pointing up toward a series of massive 19th-century cast-iron steam pipes running along the curved roof of the vault.
Without another word, Dante unslung a pneumatic grapnel gun. He aimed at the iron support brackets sixty feet above, pulling the trigger. The monofilament line hissed silently into the dark, catching the iron girder with a muffled *click*.
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Before Marcus could protest, Dante engaged the motorized ascender, his body launching into the darkness above, moving like a phantom through the clouds of hissing steam.
***
