Chapter 4 - The Midnight Escape
The sudden, violent screech of heavy tires breaking against wet gravel shattered the midnight silence. Mariana, who had been packing a small duffel bag, froze. She crept toward the cracked window and peered out into the torrential rain. Her heart dropped into her stomach. Heavy, armored SUVs had blocked off both ends of the alleyway. Men clad in black tactical gear, carrying silenced automatic weapons, were silently surrounding the perimeter of the safehouse.
"Nico, backpack on. Right now. Do not make a single sound," Mariana whispered, her voice tight with adrenaline.
She grabbed her laptop, threw it into her bag, and took Nico's small hand. They scrambled out through a narrow, rusted back window just as the front door of the safehouse was violently blown off its hinges with a breaching charge.
They ran blindly through the labyrinth of massive steel shipping containers, the freezing rain blinding them, the wind howling off the ocean. Behind them, powerful tactical flashlights cut through the darkness, illuminating the sheets of pouring rain.
"Spread out! She has the boy! Shoot to disable, but secure the laptop at all costs!" a harsh voice shouted through the radio static behind them.
Mariana’s lungs burned, her legs shaking from exhaustion. She rounded a corner only to hit a dead end—a towering, twelve-foot chain-link fence topped with razor wire. There was nowhere left to run. She turned around, pressing Nico behind her back as the heavy footsteps of their pursuers grew closer. A bright flashlight beam rounded the corner, blinding her completely.
Just as she prepared to fight for her life, the loud, roaring engine of a heavy-duty delivery van shattered the air. The van came flying around the corner in reverse, smashing directly into the lead guard, sending him flying into a stack of wooden pallets.
The side door of the van slid open with a loud clatter. To Mariana’s utter bewilderment, sitting in the driver's seat was Sofia—her estranged younger sister. Sofia, who had spent her entire life acting like a shallow, spoiled, jewelry-obsessed billionaire brat to appease their demanding parents.
"Get in! Move your asses right now!" Sofia screamed over the roar of the engine.
Mariana didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. She hoisted Nico into the back of the van and dove in right behind him as a hail of bullets riddled the metal exterior of the vehicle. Sofia slammed the gas pedal, the tires screeching as the van tore out of the shipyard, crashing through a wooden security barrier and disappearing into the highway traffic.
Inside the dimly lit back of the van, Mariana collapsed against the wall, gasping for air. Sofia looked at her through the rearview mirror, tears streaming down her face, ruining her expensive makeup.
"I saw the videos on Facebook, Mariana," Sofia sobbed, her hands trembling on the steering wheel. "I knew Mom and Dad were ruthless, selfish monsters... but attempted murder? Trying to drown a child? I couldn't sit by and let them kill you twice."
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Sofia kicked a large duffel bag out of the way, revealing a bruised, bloodied man sitting in the very back of the van, holding a heavy, military-grade external hard drive. It was Julian.
"Sofia used her security access code to break me out of the basement vault while Rodrigo was distracted by the police protests," Julian said, offering Mariana a weak, painful, but deeply triumphant smile. "And we didn't leave empty-handed. We have everything now, Mariana. The offshore human trafficking routes, the bribery ledgers, the political payoffs... and the original, raw uncompressed yacht footage."
