"That's him—the one who killed my bodyguards!"
Beth immediately recognized the man, yelling to Owen as they ran.
Owen dragged her back to the car, jumped in, and floored the gas pedal. The Ford roared onto the road, speeding away from Central Park.
In the rearview mirror, Owen saw the man get into a car and follow.
"Fuck. How the hell did he find us?"
Owen gritted his teeth, gripping the wheel as he tried to work it out.
He didn't know the New York streets, but that didn't affect his driving skill. What bothered him was how the killer had tracked them down—he had been extremely cautious since arriving and was sure he hadn't been followed.
"Um… sorry, it might've been… me," Beth said in a small voice.
"What?"
"Heh… before you arrived, I got worried about my dad and… I called him."
Fuck!
Owen was speechless. He had told her specifically not to make contact.
"Sorry! I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it—I was scared something had happened to them…"
Beth apologized repeatedly, and Owen had no choice but to let it go. If their roles were reversed, even a professional like him might not have resisted.
VROOOM—VROOOM—
The car behind them revved louder. The pursuer's vehicle had better performance and was quickly closing the gap.
"Pop-pop-pop!"
Gunfire rang out. The other car pulled up parallel, and the driver began shooting. Bullets punched through Owen's side windows.
Owen instinctively shoved Beth down. The CTU-supplied Ford had reinforced doors but no bulletproof glass—keeping her below window height was the safest option.
He ducked low himself, peeking just enough to return fire.
In the other car, the assassin—Ravon Attal—knew exactly who Owen was.
Their recent paths had already overlapped. He'd once hunted White Mask, one of Owen's targets, and accidentally helped John Wick escape from Owen's hands. After White Mask's people vanished, his contract ended.
With nothing to do, he picked up a new job from the Continental Hotel: kill Beth Kinney.
It seemed like an ordinary contract. He wasn't a full-time CIA operative—he took on the dirty work, and when business was slow, he freelanced. Assassinations, bodyguarding, smuggling—anything for a price.
He didn't expect that this random job would intersect with Owen again—and that Owen would personally fly cross-country to protect the girl.
BANG! BANG!
Owen's two shots shattered the other car's window and punched a hole in its door. Attal had to swerve to avoid getting hit. His car wasn't armored, and Owen's aim nearly got him.
The high-speed pursuit caused chaos on the roads. Cars around them slammed on brakes—better to be rear-ended than caught in crossfire. Dozens of emergency calls flooded 911.
Owen kept driving, bullets still pinging off the car. The assassin had shifted behind them, so Owen could no longer return fire—he focused on using his driving to shake the tail.
Ahead, a fork in the road appeared. The sign pointed toward New Jersey, with a tunnel symbol—Lincoln Tunnel.
Owen knew it. Over two kilometers long, it passed under the Hudson River, connecting Manhattan with Weehawken, New Jersey.
He grabbed his phone and contacted Tony, instructing him to alert both New York and New Jersey CTU teams to seal off the tunnel's exits. If the assassin dared follow, he wouldn't be walking out.
Owen took the turn and barreled into the Lincoln Tunnel. The killer's Buick followed without hesitation.
BANG BANG BANG—
Gunfire echoed inside the tunnel. Attal wasn't stopping.
It wasn't that the Beth contract was worth a fortune—he had a 24-hour time limit, and time was running out.
What truly drew him was curiosity. He had almost been caught by Owen during the John Wick incident. Wick had later admitted to Attal that Owen was no pushover. Their clash ended in a standoff, but if it had gone further, Wick said he might've killed Owen—but he wouldn't have survived either.
That intrigued Attal. He wanted to test Owen for himself. He knew full well the risks of fighting in a tunnel—but still, he pressed on.
The Lincoln Tunnel became their battleground, bullets echoing through the confined space.
Meanwhile, further inside the tunnel, a prison transport vehicle and a police cruiser were moving at 50 km/h.
Not far behind them, a gray BMW followed quietly.
"Fuck, we can't wait anymore," one of the armed men inside the BMW said. "Sounds like there's a gunfight behind us. Cops will be swarming in soon—we move now!"
The others agreed. The BMW accelerated, pulled alongside the prison transport, and suddenly veered to block it—screeching to a stop between the cruiser and the transport.
RATATATAT—BANG BANG!
Three Black men jumped out—one with a UZI, two with pistols. The UZI men pinned down the police cruiser while the third forced the prison van driver to open the door and disarmed the elderly prison officer inside.
"Stay down, old man, or I'll shoot."
He grabbed the keys, pistol-whipped the old cop unconscious, then searched the shackled prisoners until he found his target.
"Brother, we're here to get you out."
The two embraced. The man unlocked his friend's handcuffs.
"Here's the key to freedom. Use it or lose it…"
He tossed the entire keyring onto the floor of the prison van before fleeing with his buddy.
Outside, the UZI suppressors kept the police pinned. Once their man was out, they all jumped back into the BMW and sped off.
Inside the van, the remaining prisoners exploded into a frenzy, fighting over the keys. These were all high-risk inmates—at least 20 years apiece. Faced with freedom, all hell broke loose.
The driver fled the scene. To his credit, he secretly sealed the gate between the cab and the holding area before leaving, preventing the freed inmates from escaping the vehicle.
The BMW hadn't gone far before the UZI fire stopped and one of the cops finally peeked out. One had a light injury. The other angrily raised his Glock and fired a shot at the fleeing BMW—just to vent.
He didn't expect to hit anything. But somehow, as if guided by fate, the bullet struck the BMW's driver right in the head.
The driver slumped forward, dead, his foot still on the gas.
The BMW accelerated uncontrollably, swerved violently, and slammed into a nearby emergency stairway. The car flew into the air and crashed into a tanker truck up ahead.
BOOOOM!
The tanker exploded—its volatile chemicals igniting in a fireball.
That explosion triggered a chain reaction in a second tanker, parked just ahead. The dual detonation was greater than the sum of its parts—like a massive TNT blast. The resulting shockwave collapsed the tunnel.
------------------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get early access to chapters by joining my Patre@n!
Find me at: patre@n*com/Mutter
You can read each novel for $5 or get them all for just $15.
Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256) — $5
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336) — $5
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542) — $5
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924) — $5
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284) — $5
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289) — $5
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316) — $5
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402) — $5
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570) — $5
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660) — $5
Get access to all of them for just $15 on Patre@n!
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]