Chapter 14 - Escaping The Restaurant Before The Police And Feds Arrive
We sprinted through the narrow concrete service tunnel, our footsteps splashing heavily in the shallow puddles of runoff water. The distant roar of an oncoming subway train vibrated through the foundation walls, shaking dust from the ceiling.
"Keep moving! The subway platform is just past the iron junction gate ahead!" Alessandro shouted over the noise. His bodyguards formed a tight perimeter around us, flashlights cutting through the thick underground gloom.
We reached a rusted chain-link gate leading directly onto the maintenance catwalk of an abandoned subway line. One of the bodyguards forced the padlock with a heavy pair of bolt cutters in a matter of seconds.
We scrambled through the opening onto the elevated tracks just as red and blue emergency lights flashed above us. Looking up through a sidewalk ventilation grate, we could see police cruisers swarming the front of L’Étoile Noir.
"They're raiding the restaurant right now," I whispered, watching heavy boots stomp past the street-level grate. "Let them search an empty building," Alessandro said coldly, pulling me away from the ventilation shaft.
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A rusted maintenance cart sat idle on the side tracks, left behind by city transit workers hours earlier. "Get in the cart," Alessandro ordered, grabbing the push bar with his muscular arms.
His bodyguards climbed aboard the back, and with a mighty heave, Alessandro shoved the cart down the sloping tracks. We rolled silently into the dark tunnel, escaping the dragnet before federal agents even realized we were gone.
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