Chapter 9 - East Harbor
Rain swept across the East Harbor docks.
Victor arrived with Marco and eight trusted men.
Federal agents waited three blocks away.
Agent Shaw had ordered Victor not to enter the warehouse until her team secured the area.
Victor had never been skilled at waiting.
The warehouse lights were on.
Two trucks stood near the loading bay.
A private helicopter waited on a raised platform beside the river.
Gabriel was preparing to disappear.
Marco checked his rifle.
“Agent Shaw will be here in six minutes.”
“Gabriel will be gone in four.”
Victor moved toward the fence.
Marco followed.
Inside the warehouse, Adrian Montigue supervised men loading crates of cash and documents.
Gabriel stood near the helicopter.
He seemed unsurprised when Victor stepped through the loading entrance.
“You always were impatient,” Gabriel said.
Victor looked around.
“Where is Adrian?”
Adrian emerged from behind a truck.
He wore a gray overcoat and carried a pistol.
“Your fiancée caused significant trouble.”
“She was your sister.”
“She was an investment.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
Adrian smiled.
“Do not pretend you loved her.”
“I intended to protect her.”
“That was always your weakness. You confuse protection with love.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Give us the copy of Elena’s drive.”
“It is already with federal agents.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
Gabriel studied Victor.
“You betrayed your own blood.”
“You murdered my wife.”
“For the survival of this family.”
“You tried to kill my son.”
“For the survival of the organization.”
Victor shook his head.
“The organization exists to protect the family.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “The family exists to continue the organization.”
Victor understood then.
Gabriel did not see Ethan as a child.
He saw him as a bloodline.
A future name.
A piece that could be removed if it threatened the structure Gabriel worshiped.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Adrian raised his pistol.
“You brought police.”
Victor did not move.
“You brought them when you targeted my son.”
Gunfire erupted near the loading bay.
Marco’s men exchanged shots with Adrian’s guards.
Victor moved behind a steel column.
Gabriel ran toward the helicopter platform.
Adrian fired twice at Victor.
One bullet struck metal.
The other grazed Victor’s shoulder.
He returned fire.
Adrian disappeared behind the truck.
Marco reached Victor.
“You’re hit.”
“I’m alive.”
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
Federal tactical teams entered.
“Drop your weapons!”
Adrian’s men scattered.
Some surrendered.
Others ran toward the river exits.
Victor pursued Gabriel up the metal staircase to the helicopter platform.
Gabriel reached the aircraft.
The pilot started the engine.
Victor fired at the rotor assembly.
The pilot ducked.
Gabriel turned and raised his gun.
Victor stopped ten feet away.
Rain struck the platform between them.
“You destroyed everything,” Gabriel said.
“You did that eighteen months ago.”
“I made you stronger.”
“You made my son an orphan.”
“You are still alive.”
“You killed his mother.”
“She would have taken him from you.”
Victor felt the truth of that sentence.
Elena had intended to leave.
Perhaps she would have succeeded.
Perhaps Ethan would have grown up without knowing the Blackwood name.
He might have been safer.
Victor lowered his weapon slightly.
Gabriel saw hesitation and smiled.
“You blame me because it is easier than blaming yourself.”
Victor’s hand tightened.
Gabriel continued.
“You chose power over Elena.”
“I know.”
The admission erased Gabriel’s smile.
Victor raised the weapon again.
“But I will not make that choice twice.”
Gabriel fired.
Victor moved.
The bullet struck his side.
Victor fell against the railing.
Gabriel approached.
“You were never fit to lead.”
A second gunshot sounded.
Gabriel stopped.
Marco stood on the staircase below.
His weapon remained raised.
Gabriel looked down at the wound in his chest.
Then at Victor.
“You let a servant’s brother betray his own blood.”
Marco climbed onto the platform.
“No.”
His eyes were cold.
“I chose the man who protected my brother’s life when he had every reason to take it.”
Gabriel collapsed.
Federal agents flooded the platform.
Agent Shaw kicked away Gabriel’s weapon.
He was still breathing.
Victor pressed a hand against his bleeding side.
“Keep him alive.”
Shaw looked at him.
“You want him tried?”
“I want him to hear Elena’s recording played in court.”
Below them, Adrian ran toward the river.
He jumped aboard a small speedboat.
Lily’s brother had recorded every route connected to Montigue Shipping.
Agent Shaw’s team had already blocked the channel.
Adrian’s boat reached the open water.
A Coast Guard vessel emerged from the rain.
Adrian turned sharply.
The speedboat struck a concrete barrier and flipped.
Agents pulled him from the water minutes later.
The East Harbor operation ended before midnight.
Gabriel survived surgery.
Adrian was charged with murder, smuggling, conspiracy and attempted kidnapping.
Judge Hollis was arrested at his home before dawn.
Victor was transported to a secure hospital.
When he awakened, Lily sat beside his bed.
Ethan slept in a portable crib near the window.
Victor looked toward them.
“Did I keep my promise?”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“You came back.”
Victor tried to sit up.
Pain stopped him.
“Serena?”
“In federal custody.”
“Marco?”
“Outside.”
Victor relaxed.
Lily touched the bandage beneath his hospital gown.
“You could have died.”
“I have been told that before.”
“Does it ever frighten you?”
“No.”
She looked toward Ethan.
“It should.”
Victor followed her gaze.
May you like
For the first time, he understood that courage was not the absence of fear.
Courage was allowing himself to have something worth losing.
