Chapter 13 - The Escape from Delancey Street
As Marcus carried Toby out of Room 404 into the corridor,
the red emergency alarms suddenly shifted to a piercing continuous tone.
“Attention: unauthorized breach detected in Sector Four,” an automated voice blared over the facility's intercom speakers.
“Lockdown initiated.
”
Heavy steel security shutters slammed down across the main hallway windows and stairwells,
blocking their primary exit route.
“They’ve triggered the facility lockdown,” an operative reported over the comms channel.
“Main stairwell is sealed.
”
“We use the maintenance elevator shaft,” Marcus ordered without missing a beat,
adjusting Toby securely against his tactical vest.
“Blow the access hatch on the third-floor ceiling.
”
An operative stepped forward,
placing a localized shaped charge against the metal panel of the service shaft.
A controlled,
silent pop blew the hinges clean off.
Climbing ropes dropped instantly into the corridor.
“Up we go,” Marcus instructed,
hoisting Toby onto the back of a trusted operative equipped with a secure carrying harness.
“Hold on tight to your new puppy,
buddy.
”
Toby nodded bravely,
wrapping his small arms tightly around the operative's neck as they ascended rapidly into the dark mechanical shaft just as heavy armed guards hired by Vance poured into the fourth-floor corridor below.
Bullets ricocheted off the concrete walls far beneath them,
sparking harmlessly into the dark.
Within minutes,
Marcus and his team burst out through the rooftop access hatch into the freezing pre-dawn air of lower Manhattan.
Waiting on the gravel rooftop was the Hail Group extraction helicopter,
its rotor blades spinning with a deafening roar that whipped up the swirling winter snow.
Marcus bundled Toby inside the secure cabin,
strapping him into a custom-fitted passenger seat beside an encrypted communications terminal.
“Pilot,
lift off immediately,” Marcus ordered into his headset as he climbed aboard and slammed the cabin door shut.
The helicopter surged upward into the dark winter sky,
May you like
banking sharply toward the glittering pinnacle of the Hail Tower in midtown.
Mission objective one was complete.
