Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Gambit
Elena stared at me like I had lost my mind. ""Mrs. Bennett, you cannot go up there! Mr. Jack said to stay locked until the police or our backup arrives!""
""Corvo controls the local precinct; you know that as well as I do,"" I said, slipping off my heels and grabbing a heavy iron wrench from the maintenance rack on the wall. ""If Jack dies tonight, Tyler and I are dead anyway. Where does the tunnel lead?""
Elena pointed a trembling finger toward an iron grate behind the wine racks. ""It comes up behind the summer kitchen... twenty feet from the fountain.""
I knelt in front of Tyler, looking deep into his terrified eyes. ""Tyler, listen to me carefully. Stay right here with Elena. Count to two hundred. If Mommy isn't back, Elena will push the red button on the safe box to alert the Coast Guard. Promise me you will stay brave.""
Tyler sniffled, wiped his nose on his sleeve, and nodded. ""I promise, Mommy. Bring Uncle Jack back.""
I crawled through the narrow, concrete utility tunnel, the damp smell of earth and seawater filling my lungs. As I pushed open the disguised grate behind the outdoor stainless-steel counters of the summer kitchen, the deafening roar of sirens and burning debris hit me like a wall of heat.
Corvo was standing over Jack, who was on his knees, blood pouring from a cut above his brow. Corvo had his shotgun pressed against Jack’s temple.
""Last chance, Jackie,"" Corvo sneered. ""The ledger key.""
""Drop the gun, Victor!"" I screamed, stepping out into the strobe-like glare of the burning security trucks.
Every surviving mercenary snapped their weapons toward me.
Jack’s head jerked up, his eyes widening in pure horror. ""Anna! Run! Get back inside!""
I walked forward onto the gravel, holding the silver compass locket high above my head so the floodlights caught its gleaming titanium core.
""Is this what you murdered Leo for?"" my voice echoed across the courtyard, steady and venomous. ""Forty billion dollars in escrow? You think you can take it?""
Corvo’s lips curled into a predatory grin, lowering the shotgun slightly from Jack’s head. ""Well, well. The runaway waitress. Good girl, Anna. Hand it over, and maybe I'll let you and your kid board a bus out of Florida.""
""You want it?"" I yelled, taking two steps toward the private dock where the dark waters of Biscayne Bay churned beneath the pier. ""Come get it.""
With all the strength left in my body, I reared back and hurled the locket far out into the pitch-black water.
""No!"" Corvo roared, his greed overriding every shred of tactical discipline. ""Grab it! It's waterproof—dive in, you idiots!""
Two of his mercenaries broke formation, sprinting toward the edge of the dock and plunging into the black bay. In that split second of total distraction, Jack moved like a coiled viper.
He lunged upward, driving his concealed combat knife into the thigh of the mercenary holding him down, seized the man's dropped submachine gun, and rolled behind the lip of the fountain.
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Rat-tat-tat-tat!
A burst of precision gunfire ripped through the night air. Corvo’s remaining bodyguard collapsed onto the marble paving. Corvo spun, lifting his shotgun, but Jack fired two rounds directly into Corvo’s right shoulder, sending the mobster crashing into the decorative tiles of the fountain pool.
