Ron Donaldo: Rise Of The Apex Don

Chapter 13

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The sound came from the ceiling of the old subway terminal. It was slow. It was heavy. It was the sound of death. 

Ron Donaldo looked up at the cracked white tiles. He did not panic. His brain worked like a fast computer. He had three minutes. Three minutes to save his team. Three minutes to save the war. 

"Silas!" Ron shouted loudly. "Grab the main hard drives! Leave the big screens! Leave the generator!"

Silas, the nervous hacker, jumped out of his chair. His hands were shaking. He pulled the thick black wires out of the computers. He grabbed three small, silver hard drives and shoved them into his backpack. "I have the data, Sir! I have the money codes!" 

"Jax!" Ron yelled. "Break the back door!" 

Jax, the giant fighter with no tongue, did not say a word. He ran to the heavy iron door at the back of the terminal. The door was rusted shut. It had not been opened in thirty years. Jax hit the door with his massive shoulder. 

BANG. 

The iron door bent, but it did not open. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

The timer above them was getting faster. Dust began to fall from the ceiling. Small pieces of rock hit the floor. 

Isabella Voretti looked at her phone. The red tracking light was still blinking. She realized she had brought the killers right to their secret base. 

"It is my fault," Isabella cried. Her dark eyes were full of tears. She raised her hand to throw the phone away. 

"Wait!" Ron grabbed her wrist. His grip was strong but gentle. "Do not throw it here. Give it to me." 

Ron took the phone. He looked around the large, empty terminal. He saw a deep, dark drain hole in the floor. Water flowed quickly down the drain into the deep city sewers. Ron dropped the phone into the water. The water washed the phone away, carrying the red tracker deep underground. 

"Let them follow that," Ron said coldly. 

BANG. 

Jax hit the rusted iron door again. This time, the metal hinges broke loudly. The heavy door fell flat on the ground. A long, dark tunnel was behind it. 

"Go! Go! Go!" General Silas Vance ordered. He waved his huge hands. 

Silas the hacker ran into the dark tunnel first. Vera the forger ran behind him. Isabella went next. General Vance stood by the broken door, holding his big gun, waiting for his King. 

Ron was the last one to leave the War Room. He looked at the glowing screens and the maps on the tables. They had lost their base. The enemy was fast. But Ron smiled a small, dangerous smile. A good chess player never cries over a lost pawn. 

Ron ran into the tunnel. 

"Run hard!" Ron shouted. "Do not stop!"

They ran in the dark. The ground was wet and slippery. They ran for one minute. Two minutes. Their boots splashed in the muddy water. The air smelled like old dirt and fear. 

Then, the world ended. 

BOOM!

A massive explosion shook the earth. It was so loud it hurt their ears. The ground jumped up and down like a violent earthquake. A huge wave of hot air and thick gray dust shot down the tunnel. The heat pushed them forward, knocking Silas and Vera to the muddy floor. 

Ron turned around. He saw bright orange fire fill the subway terminal behind them. The ceiling collapsed. Millions of pounds of rock and dirt fell down, totally crushing the tables, the computers, and the train cars. 

If they had stayed for ten more seconds, they would be dead. They would be buried forever under the city. 

The fire slowly died, leaving only thick dust and total darkness. 

Ron coughed. He clicked his small flashlight on. The white beam cut through the dust. 

"Is everyone alive?" Ron asked. His voice was calm. 

"Yes, Sir," General Vance coughed, spitting dirt from his mouth. 

Silas stood up, holding his backpack tightly. "I am okay. The data is safe." 

Isabella leaned against the wet stone wall. She was breathing very hard. Her beautiful clothes were covered in mud. She looked at Ron. "They almost killed us, Ron. Marcus Thorne almost won."

"Marcus did not do this," Ron said softly. He wiped the dirt from his face. "Marcus is a coward. He uses lawyers and money. He does not use heavy bombs. Someone else sent the bombers. Someone who knows how I think." 

Ron knew the truth. "The Director" was making a move. The mysterious man who forced Theresa to frame Ron five years ago was finally stepping out of the shadows. 

"What do we do now?" General Vance asked. "We have no base. The police are hunting us. The bombers are hunting us."

Ron’s blue eyes were cold and sharp. His core struggle burned inside him. A normal man would run away. A normal man would hide. But Ron was the Apex. When the enemy hits you with a hammer, you do not cry. You cut off the enemy’s hand. 

"We stay on the mission," Ron said. "We need to hit the supply chain. We need the lithium. Silas, can you connect to the internet down here?"

Silas nodded. He pulled a small tablet from his bag. He attached a wire to it. He typed very fast. "I am using a hidden satellite signal, Sir. I am in."

"Check the city port," Ron ordered. "Where is the Sea Dragon ship?"

Silas looked at the screen. His eyes went wide. "Sir! The ship is not at the port!"

"What?" General Vance growled. 

"It arrived two hours early," Silas explained quickly. "Marcus Thorne changed the schedule. He knew we might attack the port. He already unloaded the lithium!"

"Where is it?" Ron asked. His voice was hard like iron. 

Silas typed faster. "Marcus hired a private army. Blackwater Shield. They put the lithium into three heavy armored trucks. They left the port fifteen minutes ago. They are driving to the secret Sterling Tech warehouse outside the city."

"What road are they on?" Ron asked. 

"Highway 9," Silas answered. "They are driving through the Blackwood Forest. It is a very dark, empty road. No cameras. No police."

Ron looked at General Vance. 

"General," Ron said softly. "Call your men. Tell the Iron Legion to meet us at Highway 9."

The General smiled. His scarred face looked very scary in the flashlight beam. "We are going to rob the trucks, Sir?"

"No," Ron said. He started walking fast down the dark tunnel. "It is not a robbery if you take back what belongs to you. We are going to repossess my property. We are going to bleed Sterling Tech dry."