Chapter 3 - The Ocean of Ten Minutes
The drive from the riverfront penthouse to the heart of the South Side usually took twenty-five minutes under optimal conditions. Jonah Price did it in less than eight.
The armored black Mercedes SUV tore through the midnight sleet like a predatory shadow, its modified twin-turbo engine screaming against the asphalt as it blew through three consecutive red lights on Archer Avenue. In the backseat, Roman Velez didn't look like a crime boss anymore. He had discarded his custom-tailored suit jacket on the floorboards; his white silk shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his hands gripping the leather handles above the door as the vehicle skidded around a sharp corner onto Wolcott Street.
Through the phone, which was still resting against his ear on speaker, he could hear the chaotic reality of apartment 3B.
The paramedics had arrived. Roman could hear the heavy, authoritative thud of boot-heels on cheap linoleum, the tearing of velcro from medical kits, and the sharp, clinical vocabulary of emergency workers dealing with a traumatic head injury.
"BP is ninety over sixty," a male voice muttered through the line. "Pupils are sluggish but reactive. We need to intubate if her oxygen saturation drops another three points. Let's get the backboard up here now."
"Mommy! No! Don't take her!" Valeria's voice was a high-pitched streak of pure terror. "Luz, don't let them take her!"
"Sir, you need to step back," a female paramedic was saying, her voice firm but sympathetic. "We're trying to help your mother. Who called this in? Are you girls alone here?"
"I called," Luz said, her voice small but remarkably steady despite the carnage around her. "Our... our friend is coming. He’s on the phone."
"Jonah, faster!" Roman growled, his knuckles turning white as the SUV bounced violently over a massive pothole, the tires spinning on the slick, slush-covered street.
"I'm pushing it to the limit, boss," Jonah muttered, his eyes fixed on the rearview mirror as a second emergency vehicle—a fire engine—turned onto the block behind them, its red and blue lights painting the dirty brick tenements in rhythmic fractures of color.
The Mercedes slammed to a halt directly behind the ambulance, the tires screeching against the curb. Before Jonah could even put the vehicle in park, Roman had opened the door, his leather boots hitting the freezing slush as he sprinted toward the entrance of the dilapidated three-story walk-up.
The front door of the building was propped open with a rusted iron wedge. The hallway smelled of old cabbage, damp plaster, and the distinctive, metallic tang of poverty that Roman had spent twenty years trying to escape. He took the stairs three at a time, his heart hammering against his teeth, his lungs burning with an ancient, terrifying adrenaline.
When he reached the third floor, the door to Apartment 3B was wide open, light spilling out into the dark hallway.
Roman stopped in the frame.
The apartment was tiny—scarcely larger than the walk-in closet in his penthouse. The walls were covered in faded yellow wallpaper that was peeling at the corners, and the furniture consisted of a single, saggy futon and a laminate kitchen table with two mismatched chairs.
In the center of the kitchen, beneath the harsh glare of a single fluorescent bulb, two paramedics were kneeling over a woman.
Camila.
She looked smaller than he remembered. Her beautiful, dark hair was matted with blood at the temple, her skin pale and translucent under the neon light. She was still wearing a stained white apron from Rosie’s Grill, her small hands resting limply against her sides.
And standing beside the counter, clutching a cheap smartphone between her tiny, trembling hands, was a little girl with big, amber eyes. The exact same shade of amber that Roman saw every morning when he looked into the mirror.
Beside her was her sister, a carbon copy with the same long curls, clutching a faded blanket with yellow stars.
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Luz looked up as the shadow of his massive frame filled the doorway. She didn't flinch. She didn't run. She simply stared into his eyes, her lower lip trembling as she whispered the words that changed his world forever.
"You came."
