Chapter 5 - The Chase Through the Canals
While the front of the auto shop echoed with the thunderous roar of gunfire, Reyes slipped quietly out of the subterranean loading bay behind the wheel of a matte-black armored SUV, little Lily buckled securely into the back seat.
Lily clutched her stuffed rabbit tightly against her chest, her eyes wide with terror, but she didn't cry. She had learned quickly over the past twelve hours that fear didn't help; staying quiet and trusting the dark, silent man who called her ‘Lily’ was the only way to survive.
“Hold on tight, kiddo,” Reyes said over his shoulder, checking his rearview mirror as the heavy steel bay doors slid open into the damp, foggy morning air. “We’re about to take a bumpy ride.”
As the vehicle roared out into the industrial alleyway, a second Vanguard tactical team—waiting in reserve near the canal—spotted them instantly.
“Target vehicle moving east! Intercept!” shouted a voice over the enemy comms channel.
A black SUV screeched around the corner, its tires smoking against the wet asphalt as it accelerated directly toward Reyes’s path, trying to block the exit ramp leading down to the drainage canal.
Reyes didn't slow down. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands, slammed his foot hard down on the accelerator, and rammed his heavy armored vehicle straight into the side of the interceptor SUV with bone-crushing force.
CRUNCH!
Metal crumpled, glass shattered, and the enemy vehicle spun out of control, slamming hard into a concrete barrier. Reyes’s SUV bounced twice but kept moving, plunging down the concrete ramp into the wide, shallow concrete bed of the Los Angeles River drainage canal.
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Behind them, the distant sounds of sirens began to wail across the morning air—local police responding to the gunfire at the auto shop. But Vincent’s automated countermeasures had already scrambled local dispatch frequencies, sending patrol units spinning in the wrong direction across three different zip codes.
Down in the canal, Reyes punched the throttle, racing toward the open ocean access tunnels where a safe extraction boat was waiting.
