He knows I will take it.
"If they touch her," I say, my voice echoing in the quiet loft, "if they even look at her, I will tear your throat out with my bare hands before your men can pull the trigger."
"Walk downstairs, Malcolm. You have two minutes."
The line clicks dead.
I lower the phone. I tap the emergency beacon Grant installed in the secure app, sending the safe house coordinates and a live distress flag to Miller’s federal task force. Then I look at the screen for a fraction of a second, drop it onto the concrete floor, and crush it under the heel of my boot, shattering the glass and killing the tracking chip Preston can monitor.
I turn around.
Audrey is standing a few feet away. She heard the conversation. She knows exactly what is happening.
"No," she whispers, shaking her head. "No, Malcolm. You are not going down there."
"I have to." I cross the room, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Listen to me. The steel doors will hold them for a few minutes, but they have breaching equipment. If they come up here, we both die."
"If you go down there, he’s going to kill you!" She grabs the lapels of my coat, her fingers digging into the fabric with a desperate, frantic strength. "We can call the police. We can call the FBI. They’re already looking for him!"
"There is no time." I pull her flush against my chest, burying my face in her hair one last time. "He has Grant. He has the exits covered."
"Malcolm, please." She is crying now, the tears hot against my neck. "You promised me. You promised me we would burn them down together."
"We did burn them down." I pull back, framing her face with my hands. I force her to look at me. "The company is gone. Simon is in custody. You won, Audrey."
"I don't care about the company!" she screams, the sound tearing through the loft. "I care about you!"
My chest fractures.
I kiss her. It is a hard, violent, desperate collision of mouths. It tastes like salt and terror and absolute finality. I pour every ounce of what I feel for her into the kiss, knowing it is the last time I will ever touch her.
I pull away.
"Lock the door behind me," I order, my voice rough. "Do not open it for anyone except the police."
I turn around and walk toward the heavy steel doors.
I don't look back. If I look back, I won't be able to leave.
I pull the heavy metal lever, push the door open, and step out into the cold, concrete stairwell.
The heavy door clicks shut behind me.
I walk down the stairs, each step echoing in the silence. I am a dead man walking. Preston will put a bullet in my head the moment the SUV clears the city limits.
But as I reach the ground floor and push the exit door open, stepping out into the freezing Chicago wind to face the men waiting to kill me, I don't feel fear.
I feel absolute, terrifying peace.
She is safe.
And I am going to take as many of them with me as I can.
CHAPTER 29
AUDREY
The heavy steel door clicks shut.
