Chapter 3 - The Ambush on the Parkway
The storm had transformed the North State Parkway into a treacherous river of black ice and blinding spray. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the dense woodland lining the highway in eerie, sudden bursts of blue light.
Darius’s heavy, armored custom SUV tore through the night at ninety-five miles an hour, its modified V8 engine roaring like a beast. Mateo drove with terrifying, surgical precision, weaving between slow-moving civilian cars, his knuckles white on the leather steering wheel.
In the passenger seat, Darius sat in total, deadly silence. He wrapped a thick strip of tactical grip tape around his cut left hand, ignoring the blood seeping through the fabric.
His mind was a horrifying loop of guilt and agony.
He had doubted her. He had listened to the snake whispering in his ear and cast out the only human being in Manhattan who truly cared for his soul. He had called their three years of marriage protection instead of trust.
“If she dies tonight, Mateo,” Darius spoke into the darkness of the SUV, his voice dangerously calm, “you won't need to hunt Silas down. I will tear him apart with my bare hands.”
“She’s tough, Boss,” Mateo replied, slamming his foot down on the accelerator. “She survived four years in the busiest trauma ER in New York. She’s a fighter.”
“Signal picked up!” Mateo called out two minutes later, pointing to the glowing dashboard monitor. “Emergency distress beacon from Thomas’s secondary radio! Half a mile ahead, near the gravel quarry off Exit 14!”
Through the thick curtain of rain, the scene of the crash came into view.
The black sedan carrying Evelyn had been violently rammed off the highway, its front end crumpled against a heavy concrete barrier. Two dark, heavy-duty SUVs were parked diagonally across the lanes, blocking any chance of escape.
Four men wearing heavy tactical gear and face masks were surrounding the wrecked sedan, using crowbars to smash open the rear passenger doors.
“Brace!” Mateo yelled.
Darius’s armored SUV didn't slow down. It slammed at sixty miles an hour directly into the rear quarter-panel of the lead enemy SUV!
KA-BOOM!
The crushing impact sent the enemy vehicle spinning out of control, flipping onto its side and crashing into the muddy ditch in a shower of sparks and shattered glass!
Before the debris had even settled on the pavement, Darius threw his passenger door open and stepped out into the freezing downpour. He didn't seek cover. He walked forward like an unstoppable force of nature, raising his weapon with absolute, lethal intent.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Two of the attackers fell dead into the mud before they could even turn around. The remaining two gunmen scrambled behind their surviving SUV, firing wild bursts from automatic submachine guns into the darkness.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Bullets flattened against the armored body of Darius’s SUV. Mateo vaulted over the hood, ducking behind the rear tire and returning disciplined, rapid suppressive fire that drove the remaining gunmen back into the treeline.
Darius ignored the gunfire entirely. He sprinted straight toward the smoking wreckage of the black sedan.
“Evelyn!” he roared over the thunder.
He grabbed the mangled rear door handle of the sedan. The metal frame was twisted shut from the impact. Darius braced his boots against the door frame, gritted his teeth, and pulled with sheer, primal strength, ripping the steel door off its hinges with a sickening screech of tearing metal.
Inside, Evelyn was slumped across the torn leather seat. A thin line of blood trickled down her forehead from a cut near her hairline, but her eyes were open, filled with shock and adrenaline. Driver Thomas was slumping over the steering wheel, unconscious but breathing.
“Evelyn!” Darius gasped, reaching into the ruined vehicle, his huge hands gently scooping her up into his arms and pulling her out into the rain.
Evelyn blinked through the water dripping into her eyes. When she looked up and recognized the rugged, scar-lined face of her husband holding her tightly against his chest, a soft, trembling sob escaped her lips.
“Darius...?” she whispered, her hands instinctively reaching up to clutch the wet lapels of his heavy coat. “You... you came...?”
“I came for you,” Darius choked out, his voice cracking with emotion as he held her close, shielding her slender body from the cold rain with his own frame. “I’m sorry, Evelyn. God forgive me, I’m so sorry. I was blind. I was a fool. I should have trusted you.”
Evelyn rested her head against his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of rain, cedar, and leather. “Silas... it was Silas, Darius. His men rammed the car... they were trying to take me to Lorenzo’s warehouse near the docks...”
Darius pressed a fierce, tender kiss against her bloody forehead, his heart overflowing with a fierce, protective love that burned away every remaining shadow of doubt.
“He will never hurt you again,” Darius promised, his voice dropping into a register of terrifying, absolute certainty. “Nobody in this city will ever touch you again.”
Mateo ran up to the sedan, slamming a fresh magazine into his pistol. “Perimeter cleared, Boss! But I just intercepted an encrypted radio transmission from Silas’s personal driver. Silas is at Pier 42 right now with Lorenzo Romano! They’ve loaded twenty million in bearer bonds onto Lorenzo’s private yacht and are preparing to clear port for international waters in fifteen minutes!”
Darius lifted Evelyn gently, walking over to his running SUV, and placed her safely into the heated leather back seat. He pulled a dry wool blanket from the storage compartment, wrapping it carefully around her shoulders.
“Mateo will drive you to our private medical clinic in Midtown under heavy guard,” Darius told her softly, cupping her pale cheeks in his hands. “You are safe now.”
Evelyn grabbed his blood-stained wrist, her dark eyes wide with urgent concern. “Where are you going, Darius?”
May you like
Darius looked at her, his expression transforming into the cold, lethal mask of the King of Manhattan.
“I’m going to clean my house,” Darius whispered gently. “And then I’m coming home to you.”
