Chapter 4 - Fire On The Water
Julian’s eyes dilated with instant, paralyzing horror.
Before he could scream an order to his men, Alessandro lunged forward like a striking predator.
He caught Natalie around the waist, sweeping her off her feet and throwing both of their bodies behind the heavy concrete barrier supporting the gantry crane.
A blinding magnesium flash detonated across the surface of the oil drum.
The concussive boom shattered every remaining pane of wire glass along the upper warehouse clerestory, showering the asphalt in glittering shards.
A rolling ball of orange flame engulfed the barrel, blinding the Moretti gunmen and setting off a chain reaction among the rotted timber pallets.
Gunfire erupted instantly from both sides of the warehouse.
Marco and the Vitale security team advanced with disciplined, lethal precision, firing low caliber rounds through the smoke to suppress the scattered Moretti henchmen.
"Michael!" Natalie screamed, struggling against Alessandro's protective grip.
"Marco has him!" Alessandro roared over the deafening cracks of gunfire.
Through the thick gray smoke, she saw Marco tackle the two guards holding Michael's chair, slicing through the nylon zip-ties with a tactical blade in one fluid motion.
Marco hauled Michael behind an armored forklift just as a hail of submachine-gun fire chewed through the timber framing where the boy had been sitting seconds before.
Julian Moretti scrambled backward through the flames, clutching his scorched face and screaming into a handheld radio.
"Burn the whole pier! Drop the fuel tanks!"
High above the floor, an auxiliary crane hook swung through the darkness, carrying a two-thousand-gallon drum of industrial thinner directly over the main exit.
"Move! To the water gates!" Alessandro commanded, hauling Natalie to her feet while keeping his broad back positioned between her and the gunfire.
A bullet grazed the brick wall beside Alessandro's ear, spitting masonry dust into his dark hair.
He didn't flinch.
He raised his weapon, fired three rhythmic shots through the haze, and a sniper perched on the second-story catwalk plummeted thirty feet into the burning debris below.
They reached the reinforced rear slipway where a twin-engine offshore cruiser was idling against the wooden pilings, its engine rumble masked by the storm.
Marco threw Michael onto the deck of the vessel, jumping aboard after him.
"Get in, Natalie!" Alessandro shouted, lifting her by the waist and setting her safely over the gunwale.
Before Alessandro could climb aboard, Julian Moretti burst from the smoking doorway, leveling a heavy revolver directly at Natalie’s back.
"Vitale!" Julian shrieked.
Alessandro didn't draw his gun.
He simply stepped into the line of fire, his shoulder slamming into Julian’s chest with the momentum of a runaway freight train.
The gun went off with a deafening crack.
A sharp gasp tore from Alessandro’s throat as the bullet tore through the flesh above his left collarbone.
He drove Julian back onto the wet timber edge of the pier, his right fist smashing into Julian’s jaw with bone-splintering force.
Julian went limp, tumbling over the splintered edge and plunging into the black, churning water of the East River below.
Alessandro stumbled against the mooring cleat, his left hand clutching his bleeding shoulder.
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"Alessandro!" Natalie cried, leaning over the boat's railing and grabbing the wet fabric of his wool jacket with both hands.
"Pull the line, Marco," Alessandro grunted through gritted teeth, swinging his long legs over the coaming and dropping onto the deck as the cruiser surged into the open river.
