Chapter 6 - The Train That Shouldn't Exist
The train came roaring through the dark without headlights. Its first car struck the edge of the platform, throwing sparks into the air.
“Run!” Adrian yelled.
They sprinted toward the stairs. A side door on the lead car slid open. Men wearing helmets jumped out, weapons raised.
Ruiz shoved the laptop into her coat. “Go left. Maintenance tunnel!”
Mara followed Adrian down a narrow walkway beside live electrical cables. Someone shouted behind them. Bullets chipped concrete. Adrian kicked open a utility gate, but a shot struck its hinge and the gate slammed back into his shoulder.
He grunted and dropped to one knee.
Mara grabbed his good arm. “Get up!”
“Keep moving.”
“No.”
“Mara—”
“I have already buried too many people who told me to run.”
Together they stumbled through the opening. Ruiz fired from behind a pillar, then raced after them. She locked the gate with a chain just as the first attacker reached it.
They emerged near the river, soaked and shaking. Dawn hadn't broken. The city looked like a black machine grinding away in the rain.
Ruiz held up her phone. “We can't use the drive again. They'll trace it.”
“Then who can read it offline?” Mara asked.
“A friend of mine.” Ruiz hesitated. “A former friend. June Park. She runs a repair shop under the expressway.”
Adrian flexed his bruised shoulder. “She's the one you had fired.”
“She had a drinking problem.”
“She found a police evidence locker full of counterfeit confiscation receipts.”
Ruiz looked away. “I know that now.”
Mara saw the guilt between them. Everyone in this city seemed to have known something too late.
As they started walking, Mara's phone vibrated. It should have been impossible. She had turned it off hours earlier.
An unknown number had sent a photograph. A young woman with Mara's eyes stood beside a hospital window, holding a handwritten sign.
MARA, DON'T TRUST ADRIAN.
May you like
Under the picture was one more message.
I'M LILY. AND I KNOW WHAT HE DID.
