Chapter 18 - The Clock at Astoria
The Astoria Power Substation was a massive industrial facility filled with high-voltage transformers, electrical towers, and humongous generators that powered over four hundred thousand homes and businesses across Queens.
If the thermite charges exploded inside the central transformer yard, it would trigger a catastrophic blackout and cause tens of millions of dollars in irreparable damage.
At 4:40 AM, our Escalade tore through the gates of the substation.
The night sky was jet black, illuminated only by the flickering warning lights of the electrical towers and the heavy downpour of rain.
I jumped out of the vehicle with Tony and Bruno.
"Where is the delivery truck?" Tony yelled over the loud, continuous hum of the high-voltage transformers.
Bruno suddenly raised his head, sniffing the damp air intently. He turned his body toward the far western corner of the facility, where a plain white commercial delivery van was parked right against the main circuit housing.
"He’s got it!" I shouted, sprinting after the dog.
We reached the white van. The rear doors were locked with a heavy padlock.
Tony pulled out his sidearm and shot the lock off with two quick rounds. I yanked the doors open.
Inside the cargo bed sat a massive, military-grade incendiary device wired to three large tanks of thermite and liquid fuel. In the center of the bomb was a glowing red digital timer counting down rapid seconds:
**08:42... 08:41... 08:40...**
"God in heaven..." Tony gasped, backing away in horror. "That's enough thermite to melt a battleship! Boss, we can't disarm this! We don't have a bomb technician here!"
"We don't need to disarm it," I said, my mind racing. "We need to get it away from the transformers."
"How?!" Tony yelled. "There are less than eight minutes left!"
I didn't answer. I climbed into the front driver's seat of the delivery van, hotwired the ignition wires under the steering column with my combat knife, and slammed my foot on the accelerator.
The engine roared to life with a loud clatter.
"Boss! What are you doing?!" Tony screamed frantically through the window. "Get out of there!"
"Get the men clear of the substation!" I ordered, throwing the van into reverse and executing a sharp J-turn. "Bruno, stay with Tony!"
Bruno let out an urgent, deafening bark, trying to leap into the passenger window to stay at my side.
"Bruno, STAY!" I commanded with absolute authority.
The dog froze on the wet pavement, his eyes wide with desperate panic, but he obeyed my order.
I slammed the gas pedal to the floorboards. The white delivery van tore out of the substation gates, tires spinning on the wet asphalt, heading at full speed toward the deserted pier at the edge of the East River, just four blocks away.
The digital timer on the dashboard read:
**03:15... 03:14... 03:13...**
I drove through red lights, cutting across empty avenues, the speedometer rising to eighty miles per hour.
Up ahead, the dark, murky waters of the East River loomed at the end of 21st Street. The pier was abandoned, ending in a wooden drop-off over the deep river channel.
**00:45... 00:44... 00:43...**
I wedged a heavy metal wrench onto the gas pedal to lock it down, unlatched my seatbelt, and threw the driver's side door open.
When the van reached the edge of the wooden pier traveling at seventy miles per hour, I launched my body out of the open door, rolling violently across the rain-slicked wooden planks.
The white van smashed through the wooden safety barrier and sailed off the edge of the pier, plunging deep into the dark waters of the East River.
Three seconds later—
*BOOM!*
A massive underwater explosion detonated beneath the surface. A blinding flash of orange fire and boiling water erupted fifty feet into the air, lighting up the rainy night sky like a violent artificial sun. The shockwave rattled the pier, sending spray washing over me where I lay on the wooden planks.
Then... silence returned, save for the sound of falling rain and churning water.
I lay on my back, gasping for air, bruised and bleeding from the fall, staring up at the dark sky.
Footsteps pounded down the pier.
"Boss! Boss!" Tony’s panicked voice shouted.
Bruno reached me first. The giant dog threw his heavy body down beside me on the wet wood, frantically licking my face, letting out high-pitched, joyful whines that sounded almost like human crying.
I reached up with my bruised hand, wrapping my arm around his neck, pulling him close.
"I'm okay, Brun..." I wheezed, smiling through the pain. "I'm okay."
Tony reached us, sliding onto his knees, tears streaming down his face. "You crazy bastard... you actually pulled it off!"
I looked out at the churning river, where the black smoke was slowly dissipating into the rain.
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"Salvatore’s fires are out, Tony," I said, standing up with Bruno’s help. "Now it’s time to go to Chicago and extinguish the man who lit them."
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