THE BENT PEN

The heavy thud of the deadbolt locking into place sounded like a coffin lid slamming shut.

The water in the tool lockup was now just inches below Elias’s chin. Nakia, shorter than him, was struggling to keep her head above the murky surface while simultaneously holding the terrified six-year-old on her hip.

"Elias!" Nakia gasped, coughing as a wave of foul-smelling water sloshed over her face. "The door!"

Elias shoved the waterproof plastic bag containing the ledger deep into his waistband. He waded past her, moving with frantic, heavy strides toward the end of the corridor. When he reached the steel utility door, he threw his entire shoulder against it.

Solid iron. It didn't even vibrate.

He aimed his handgun at the electronic lock mechanism and fired his last three rounds. Sparks flew, metal sheared, but the heavy mechanical deadbolt Silas had thrown from the outside remained stubbornly in place.

"It's jammed," Elias said, his voice tight.

He turned back to look at Nakia and Leo. The boy was crying silently, his lips blue from the freezing water. Nakia was paddling awkwardly, trying to stay afloat. They had minutes before the water reached the ceiling.

Elias scanned the claustrophobic concrete tunnel. The sickly yellow emergency lights were beginning to flicker as the water level threatened their housing. There were no windows, no side doors. Just solid concrete walls and thick iron pipes running along the ceiling.

Pipes.

Elias’s eyes tracked the largest iron pipe, easily two feet in diameter. It ran from the lockup room straight down the corridor, disappearing into a massive grate set into the wall near the ceiling—a ventilation shaft.

"Nakia!" Elias shouted over the sound of rushing water. "Bring him here! Quickly!"

She kicked through the water, exhausted, her arms burning from Leo’s weight. Elias met her halfway, taking the boy from her.

"Leo, look at me," Elias said, holding the boy up so they were face-to-face. "I need you to be very brave. I’m going to lift you up to that pipe, and you are going to hold on as tight as you can. Can you do that?"

Leo sniffled, nodding his head furiously.

Elias hoisted the boy out of the water, straining his core muscles to lift the dead weight above his head. Leo scrambled onto the massive iron pipe, straddling it and wrapping his arms tightly around the cold metal.

"Good boy," Elias praised. He turned to Nakia. "Grab my shoulders. Climb up."

Nakia didn't argue. She grabbed his broad shoulders, using his thigh as a step, and hauled herself up out of the water, wrapping her arms around the pipe right behind her nephew.

Elias grabbed the pipe and pulled himself up. The water was now completely filling the corridor beneath them, lapping aggressively at the soles of their shoes.

The three of them clung to the pipe like castaways on a floating log. The tunnel below was a churning, black whirlpool.

"The vent," Elias pointed to the heavy iron grate covering the ventilation shaft a few feet ahead of them on the pipe. "If this pipe feeds out to the main rail yard, that shaft leads to the surface."

Elias shimmied forward, the rough iron tearing at his wet clothes. He reached the grate. It was ancient, rusted solid into the concrete wall. He gripped the iron bars and pulled with everything he had. His muscles screamed, his back arching, but the grate didn't budge.

"It's rusted shut!" Elias cursed, frustration finally bleeding into his perfectly controlled facade. He struck the grate with the butt of his empty gun, but it was useless.

The water level rose another inch, splashing against their legs. The emergency lights short-circuited with a loud pop, plunging the tunnel into absolute, terrifying darkness.

Leo let out a piercing scream.

"I'm right here, baby! I'm right here!" Nakia cried out in the blackness, her voice shaking.

Elias hung his head in the dark, his breath coming in ragged gasps. For the first time in his life, Elias Mercer felt completely powerless. His money, his empire, his men—none of it meant anything in this cold, dark tomb. He was going to die here, and he was going to take the only woman who had ever treated him like a human being with him.

"Elias," Nakia's voice cut through the dark. It wasn't panicked anymore. It was remarkably calm. Resolute. "The pen."

Elias frowned in the pitch black. "What?"

"The gold pen. On your desk," she said, her voice echoing slightly. "You bent it. It's solid metal. Use it."

Elias blinked. He reached a wet, trembling hand into the breast pocket of his ruined suit jacket. His fingers brushed against cold metal. He pulled out the custom Swiss fountain pen he had destroyed earlier that evening in a fit of jealousy over Brendan. It was bent into a sharp, jagged V-shape.

It was strong. Solid gold and titanium casing.

Elias felt for the edge of the grate in the dark. He found the concrete seam where the rusted iron met the wall. He jammed the sharp, bent point of the pen into the gap.

He used the pen as a makeshift pry bar. He pushed down with all his remaining strength, leveraging his entire body weight.

The metal groaned. The concrete cracked.

Snap.

The rust broke. Elias pulled the heavy grate inward, tossing it down into the dark, churning water below.

A rush of cold, fresh air hit his face. The faint, ambient light of the city storm clouds filtered in through the vertical shaft.

"I got it!" Elias shouted, relief flooding his chest. "Nakia, push him forward!"

Nakia nudged Leo forward on the pipe. Elias grabbed the boy by his wet jacket and shoved him up into the narrow, vertical ventilation shaft.

"Climb, Leo! Don't look down, just climb!" Elias ordered.

The boy scrambled up the brickwork like a terrified spider. Elias turned back, grabbing Nakia’s hand in the dark.

"Go," he commanded.

She scrambled off the pipe and into the shaft, climbing up after her nephew.

Elias was the last to go. As he pulled himself into the shaft, the water finally surged over the iron pipe, filling the tunnel entirely. If they had been a minute slower, they would have drowned.

They climbed for what felt like an eternity, their wet shoes slipping on the slick bricks. Finally, Leo pushed against a lighter metal grate at the top. It popped open easily.

The boy crawled out onto the muddy, rain-soaked earth of the rail yard, followed immediately by Nakia.

Elias hauled himself out last, collapsing onto his back in the mud, staring up at the stormy sky. He had never been so grateful to feel the freezing Chicago rain on his face.

Nakia was hugging Leo, both of them crying and shaking, covered in mud and foul water.

Elias slowly sat up. He reached into his waistband and pulled out the waterproof bag containing the ledger. He stared at it.

"Is that..." Nakia whispered, looking at the black notebook.

"Your sister's ledger," Elias confirmed, his voice hard as steel. "The one Silas killed her for."

"Why did he leave it down there?"

"He wanted the water to destroy the physical evidence, and he wanted us to die alongside it. A perfect crime." Elias slowly stood up, the icy mob boss returning, forged harder than before in the freezing water.

He looked at Nakia. She was shivering, exhausted, holding the boy who was the last piece of her family.

Elias walked over to them. He knelt in the mud, looking Nakia in the eye.

"Take Leo. Go to the safehouse Marcus set up in River North. It's secure. No one knows about it except my inner circle, and Silas thinks we're dead."

"What are you going to do?" Nakia asked, gripping his arm.