Chapter 13 - Blood in the Water
The docks were quiet,
the only sound the rhythmic slapping of the dark harbor water against the pylons.
A thick fog had rolled in from the Atlantic,
swallowing the silhouettes of the massive cargo cranes.
I stood on the roof of a nearby warehouse,
watching through a pair of night-vision goggles.
This was one of the Council’s primary distribution points,
a place where "ghost ships" docked to unload their illicit cargo.
According to the ledger,
a shipment of advanced weaponry was scheduled to arrive tonight—
enough to arm a small army and tip the scales of power in the city forever.
"Chen's men are in position,"
Marco whispered into his headset,
his voice a ghostly murmur.
"They’re coming in from the water."
"Good,"
I said.
"Wait for my signal."
I watched as a small,
unmarked freighter glided through the fog,
its lights extinguished.
It pulled alongside the pier,
and a dozen men in dark gear scrambled onto the dock.
They weren't sailors;
they were soldiers,
armed with submachine guns and tactical gear.
At the center of the group,
I saw a familiar face.
Viktor.
He was overseeing the operation personally,
his white hair a beacon in the gloom.
The traitor who had sold my father out was standing right there,
within my reach.
"Wait,"
I cautioned as Luca shifted beside me,
his finger itching on the trigger of his sniper rifle.
"We let them unload the crates."
"We want the evidence as much as the blood."
The cranes groaned as they began to lift the heavy containers from the ship’s hold.
The air was electric with tension,
the kind of silence that precedes a storm.
"Now,"
I barked into the comms.
A flare hissed into the sky,
bursting into a brilliant,
blood-red light that illuminated the entire pier.
Before the echo of the flare had died,
the night exploded.
Chen's men rose from the water like vengeful spirits,
their silenced weapons spitting fire.
From the warehouses,
my men poured out,
bottling the Council’s soldiers into a killing zone.
The sound of gunfire was a chaotic symphony,
punctuated by the screams of the dying and the roar of the freighter’s engines.
I vaulted over the edge of the roof,
sliding down a drainpipe and hitting the ground in a dead run.
I didn't care about the containers or the cargo.
I only had eyes for Viktor.
He saw me coming and reached for his sidearm,
but I was faster.
I tackled him into a stack of wooden pallets,
the air leaving his lungs in a wheezing gasp.
"You should have stayed in the shadows, Viktor!"
I yelled,
slamming my fist into his face.
He spat blood,
a jagged grin crossing his features.
"You think this matters, Calder?"
"The Council is everywhere!"
"You kill me, and ten more will take my place!"
"I’ll kill them too!"
I roared,
hauling him to his feet.
But as I prepared to deliver the final blow,
the freighter’s horn let out a long,
deafening blast.
Suddenly,
the containers on the dock began to explode.
Not from our fire,
but from within.
The Council hadn't brought weapons;
they had brought a trap.
"Get back!"
I screamed to my men.
"It's a setup!"
The shockwave threw me back,
the world turning into a blur of heat and debris.
I watched as Viktor vanished into the smoke,
his laughter echoing in the chaos.
May you like
We had walked right into a slaughterhouse,
and the cost was about to be paid in blood.
