Chapter 15 - The Battle of the Crosswell Fortress
Gideon kicked open the reinforced door of the ship's wheelhouse,
stepping inside with his weapon lowered,
his eyes fixing on Senator Jonathan Croft.
Croft was standing beside the helm console,
his hair disheveled,
holding a small nickel-plated pistol with trembling hands.
The silver hard drive lay on the navigational table between them.
Outside,
the sirens of police cruisers and coast guard cutters began to wail in the distance,
their red and blue lights flashing through the dense maritime fog.
"It’s over,
Croft,"
Gideon said,
his voice resonating with absolute finality.
"Put the gun down."
Croft laughed hysterically,
his eyes wild with desperation.
"You think you’ve won,
Gideon?"
Croft shouted,
his voice echoing off the glass windows.
"You are just a small-time mob boss in a forgotten city!"
"Lord Montgomery has networks you cannot even fathom!"
"Even if you kill me,"
Croft shrieked,
"others will come for that little girl!"
"They will hunt her to the ends of the earth!"
Gideon took three slow,
deliberate steps toward the senator.
"Then I will hunt them down,"
Gideon replied smoothly,
"one by one,"
"until there is no one left to send."
Croft raised his pistol,
attempting to pull the trigger.
Gideon struck like a coiled viper.
He grabbed Croft’s wrist,
disarming him in a single fluid motion while driving a heavy fist straight into Croft’s jaw.
Croft crashed onto the floor,
his nose broken,
coughing up blood as he cowered against the steel bulkhead.
Gideon picked up the silver hard drive containing all the medical data and financial accounts of Lord Montgomery's global syndicate.
He looked down at the pathetic politician weeping on the floor.
"I’m not going to shoot you,
Croft,"
Gideon declared coldly.
Croft looked up,
a momentary glimmer of hope appearing in his tear-filled eyes.
"You... you aren't?"
Croft stammered.
"No,"
Gideon said,
stepping back toward the door.
"I am handing this hard drive directly to the director of the FBI."
"You are going to spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security federal facility,"
"surrounded by the very criminals you helped put away."
"And every night,"
Gideon added softly,
"you will wake up wondering if my men are coming for you."
Gideon walked out of the wheelhouse,
leaving Croft screaming in despair as federal tactical teams boarded the ship below.
Two hours later,
the sun began to rise over the quiet estate of Gideon Crosswell.
The snow had stopped falling,
and the estate grounds were peaceful once again.
Gideon walked into the kitchen,
his injuries wrapped in fresh white bandages,
his dark coat discarded.
In the breakfast nook,
Clara and Lily were sitting at the table with Elena,
eating warm cinnamon rolls that Lucas had brought from the bakery.
Lily looked up,
seeing Gideon standing in the doorway.
She jumped off her chair,
running across the room as fast as her small legs could carry her.
She threw her arms around Gideon’s waist,
hugging him tightly.
"You came back,
Daddy Gideon!"
Lily cried happily.
Gideon knelt down on the floor,
wrapping his arms around the little girl,
pulling Clara into the embrace as well.
For the first time in over a year,
Gideon felt a deep,
profound sense of peace wash over his troubled soul.
The ghosts of his past had finally been laid to rest.
He looked out the bright kitchen window at the stone garden bench,
May you like
where small green shoots were already breaking through the melting snow.
The sunflowers were growing.
