Chapter 9 - The Siege at Wacker Drive
The warehouse on Wacker Drive was a cavernous, derelict structure filled with rusted shipping containers and the smell of dead river water. Rain hammered against the corrugated tin roof in a deafening, continuous roar.
Antonio Lucenti stood on an elevated metal catwalk, surrounded by eight armed mercenaries. Down below, tied to a wooden chair beneath a harsh halogen floodlight, was my mother, her face pale, her breathing labored.
"Mom!" I called out, but Dominic’s hand immediately caught my shoulder, keeping me firmly in the shadows near the container entrance.
"Right on time, Vane!" Antonio shouted down from the catwalk, his voice echoing off the steel beams. "Where are the harbor codes?"
Dominic stepped out into the light, holding a heavy titanium drive above his head. He looked solitary, imposing, and completely unafraid.
"The drive has the encryption keys to every maritime terminal between here and Milwaukee," Dominic said clearly. "Release the woman, Antonio. Your dispute is with me."
"You always were too sentimental for this business, Dominic," Antonio mocked, signaling his men. Two guards hauled my mother toward the cargo lift. "Drop the drive and get on your knees. Then maybe I’ll let her walk out of here alive."
"I don't think so," Dominic replied calmly.
He dropped his hand.
In that exact instant, the skylights above the catwalk shattered into a million pieces of safety glass.
Four tactical operatives rappelled through the ceiling, flashbang grenades detonating with concussive, blinding roars that shook the concrete foundations. Gunfire erupted in sharp, deafening bursts.
"Nadia, now!" Dominic roared, drawing his weapon and firing with surgical accuracy toward the catwalk guards.
I didn't think. I sprinted through the smoke and deafening gunfire straight toward the cargo lift. A mercenary stepped into my path, raising his rifle, but a shot from Dominic took him down before he could level the barrel.
I reached my mother, pulling a pocket knife from my jacket and furiously sawing through the thick zip-ties binding her wrists.
"Nadia... oh god, baby," my mother wept, collapsing against my chest.
"I’ve got you, Mom. We’re getting out right now!"
Suddenly, a heavy hand grabbed my hair, yanking me backward onto the wet concrete.
Antonio Lucenti stood over me, his face bloodied from glass shards, his eyes crazed with animal fury. He pointed his revolver directly at my forehead.
"You ruined everything, you little bitch!" Antonio screamed over the gunfire. "If I go down, you go down with me!"
Before he could pull the trigger, a shadow descended upon him like a roaring freight train.
Dominic slammed into Antonio, the sheer momentum of his tackle sending both men crashing through the wooden barrier of the cargo platform into the shallow water of the river slipway below.
The fall was twenty feet.
"Dominic!" I screamed, scrambling to the edge of the platform.
Down in the churning, murky river water, the two men fought with feral desperation. Antonio slashed with a tactical blade, cutting deep into Dominic’s shoulder, but Dominic didn't even flinch. He grabbed Antonio’s wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped with a sickening crack, and drove his fist into Antonio’s jaw with brutal, final force.
Antonio went limp, floating face-up in the cold river current.
Dominic dragged himself onto the concrete embankment, his shirt soaked in river mud and blood, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He looked up toward the platform.
May you like
He looked straight at me.
And through the pain and exhaustion, he smiled.
