Chapter 9 - Ambush on Argyle Street
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"Down!" Julian roared.
Before the glass from the window even hit the radiator, Julian lunged across the small kitchen, tackling both Nora and Leo to the linoleum floor behind the heavy cast-iron stove just as a burst of automatic fire stitched across the plaster wall above their heads.
Model airplanes exploded into plastic shrapnel on the shelves. Plaster dust rained down over their hair as Leo let out a muffled cry, clutching his chest in terror.
"Stay behind the stove!" Julian commanded, drawing a sleek black SIG Sauer from beneath his coat with his right hand while ripping his encrypted radio off his belt with his left. "Dario! Sniper on the tenement roof across the alley! Second team coming up the main stairwell!"
"Copy, Boss! Pinning the stairwell team at the second landing now! Take the back fire escape to the alley—we’re bringing the Maybach around!"
Nora kept her body curled tightly over Leo’s, her heart slamming against her ribs as heavy boots thundered up the interior hallway outside Apartment 4C.
"Can you run, Leo?" Julian asked sharply, crouching beside them in the swirling plaster dust, his dark eyes fierce and completely focused.
"Y-yeah," Leo stammered, nodding bravely despite his pale cheeks.
"Listen to me," Julian said, stripping off his heavy wool overcoat—which was lined with concealed Level IIIA ballistic panels—and wrapping it around Leo’s narrow shoulders like a cape. "Keep this zipped up to your chin. Stay right between me and your sister. We go out the kitchen window onto the iron landing on my mark."
"Julian, that’s your vest coat!" Nora gasped, grabbing his arm as the wooden front door of the apartment shuddered under the impact of a heavy boot.
"I don't miss, Nora. Neither will you—stay glued to my back!"
Julian fired three rapid rounds through the center of the wooden front door. A muffled scream echoed from the hallway outside as the intruder went down, buying them five precious seconds.
With his elbow, Julian cleared the remaining jagged glass from the lower kitchen sash, checked the dark rooftop opposite the narrow brick courtyard, and fired twice into the muzzle flash blinking behind the chimney across the way. A dark figure slumped over the opposite parapet.
"Go! Now!"
Julian boosted Leo through the window onto the wet iron grate of the fire escape, then caught Nora around the waist and lifted her through right behind him.
The October night air smelled of wet garbage and gun smoke. As they scrambled down the clanging iron stairs toward the alley three stories below, the apartment door above them finally gave way, and a man in a black tactical balaclava leaned out the fourth-floor window with a submachine gun aimed straight down at Nora’s back.
Nora heard the shout above her and looked up into the barrel of the gun.
Julian didn't hesitate. Moving upward on the narrow iron steps, he stepped directly into the line of fire, shielding Nora and Leo with his own body as he raised his SIG Sauer and squeezed the trigger twice.
The gunman above pitched forward over the windowsill, crashing down onto the dumpster lids below—right as a stray round from the falling weapon grazed Julian’s left bicep, tearing through his dark turtleneck.
Julian didn't even flinch. He grabbed Nora’s hand with his uninjured right arm and hauled them down the final drop ladder just as the armored Maybach screeched backward into the alley, back doors flying open.
Dario laid down roaring cover fire from the front passenger window while Julian shoved Leo and Nora onto the floor of the cabin and dove in on top of them. Tires smoked against wet asphalt as the six-ton vehicle rocketed out of the alley, smashing through a wooden construction barrier onto Sheridan Road.
In the dark backseat, Nora pressed both palms frantically over the warm, wet blood soaking through Julian’s left sleeve.
"You're bleeding!" she cried, her voice cracking for the first time all night. "You gave my brother your armored coat and stepped in front of a submachine gun!"
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Julian leaned his head back against the leather seat, breathing hard, his storm-gray eyes gleaming in the passing neon lights as he looked down at her bloodstained hands on his arm.
"Told you," Julian rasped softly, a ghost of a crooked smile touching his mouth. "Nobody touches what’s under my roof."
