Chapter 8 - BATTLE FOR MANHATTAN
The battle inside the subterranean corridors of the Federal Reserve was short, brutal, and decisive.
Using the tactical advantage of the vault's bottleneck entrance, Dominic and Marcus suppressed the remaining mercenaries, forcing Victor to retreat toward the main service elevator with his two surviving bodyguards.
"He’s heading for the street level!" Marcus called out, slamming a fresh magazine into his rifle.
"Seal the elevator grid!" Evelyn shouted from the terminal keyboard, entering administrative override codes. "I’m locking the upper gates! He’s trapped in the parking garage!"
Dominic, Norah, and Marcus rushed up the concrete fire stairs, taking three steps at a time until they burst through the heavy heavy doors into the brightly lit underground parking garage.
Screeching tires echoed across the concrete pillars.
A silver sports car surged out of a VIP parking bay, roaring toward the garage exit ramp at fifty miles per hour. Behind the wheel was Victor Vance, his right wrist wrapped in a blood-soaked handkerchief, his face contorted in frantic desperation.
"He’s escaping!" Norah yelled.
Dominic raised his rifle, aiming steadily at the silver car’s front left tire.
BANG!
The armor-piercing round shattered the wheel rim instantly. The silver sports car blew its tire, spinning wildly out of control, slamming broadside into a concrete support pillar with a deafening metal crunch.
Smoke poured from the crumpled engine bay.
Dominic advanced toward the smoking wreckage, rifle raised at his shoulder, his boots clicking rhythmically on the concrete floor. Norah, Marcus, and Evelyn followed close behind.
The driver’s side door groaned open. Victor staggered out of the vehicle, collapsing onto his knees on the slick concrete. His expensive coat was torn, blood dripping from his hairline, his silver hair wild and disheveled.
He reached frantically for a fallen revolver on the ground, but before his fingers could touch the steel, Dominic placed his heavy leather boot directly over the gun, kicking it far across the garage floor.
Victor looked up, breathing heavily, staring into the cold, dark barrel of Dominic’s rifle.
"It's over, Victor," Dominic said, his voice dropping to a low, lethal rumble.
Victor let out a raspy, bitter laugh, wiping blood from his mouth. "Go ahead then, Dominic. Shoot me. Show Arthur’s daughter what kind of monster you really are."
Norah stepped forward, standing right beside Dominic. She looked down at the man who had ordered her father’s death—a man who had once ruled a vast criminal empire from the shadows, now reduced to a bleeding wreck on a garage floor.
"Don't do it, Dominic," Norah said softly, laying her gentle hand on the barrel of Dominic’s rifle.
Dominic glanced at her in surprise. "Norah... he killed your father."
"And he will spend the rest of his miserable life in a maximum-security prison watching his empire rot from the inside," Norah said, her eyes fixed on Victor with cold, absolute authority. "If you kill him here, you become what he is. My father didn't die so you could lose your soul."
Dominic looked at Norah’s calm, resolute face. He felt the tension in his arms slowly release.
Slowly, deliberately, Dominic lowered the rifle barrel.
In the distance, the wail of police sirens echoed down Wall Street, growing louder by the second. Red and blue emergency lights flashed across the concrete ramp of the garage as dozens of NYPD and federal tactical vehicles arrived on the scene.
Evelyn held up her tablet with a triumphant smile. "The Ledger files have been fully received by the Department of Justice and the media. Victor Vance's bank accounts are frozen, his associates are being arrested worldwide as we speak, and his warrant is official."
Federal agents swarmed down the ramp, weapons drawn, dropping to their knees around Victor and snapping heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists.
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As they dragged Victor away, he turned his head, glaring at Norah with bitter, defeated eyes.
Norah didn't flinch. She stood tall, holding her head high, watching the shadow that had haunted her family for decades disappear into the back of an armored police van.
