Chapter 4 - The Shadow in the Fog
The concussive shockwave slammed Mara backward onto the concrete floor.
Dust, smoke, and burning debris rained down from the ceiling. The piercing sound of ringing filled her ears, obscuring all ambient noise.
"Mara!" a voice bellowed through the smoke.
Dominic materialized out of the haze, dropping to his knees beside her, his broad body forming a human shield over her frame as a second, smaller explosion shook the far wall.
"Are you hit?!" Dominic yelled, his hands frantically checking her shoulders, her arms, her head.
"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Mara gasped, coughing against the acrid chemical smoke filling her lungs. "Rook! Where's Rook?!"
Through the swirling clouds of grey ash, a massive black shape lunged forward.
Rook was standing over Mara’s legs, his body rigid, his cloudy eyes fixed toward the far emergency exit stairs, barking—a deep, thunderous, terrifying roar that rattled the metal beams above.
On the high catwalk above, a figure pulled himself out of the burning control booth, staggering toward the metal fire escape stairs.
It was Victor Vance. He was holding a heavy black tactical case in one hand and a suppressed pistol in the other.
"Dominic!" Caleb shouted through his radio, blood streaming down his arm from a shrapnel cut. "Lucchesi's shooters are on the perimeter! We have four men advancing from the docks!"
"Hold the door!" Dominic ordered Caleb.
Dominic stood up, racking the slide of his custom pistol, his face turning into a mask of pure, terrifying retribution. He turned toward the metal stairs leading to the catwalk.
"Stay here, Mara!" Dominic commanded.
"No!" Mara yelled, pulling herself up, grabbing Rook's harness. "He’s setting off secondary charges! Rook can smell the wiring!"
Dominic didn't argue. He led the way, firing three precise shots toward the catwalk as Victor Vance scrambled up the iron stairs toward the roof exit.
Rook pulled Mara forward with immense power, his blind navigation guided entirely by the scent of the military-grade C4 explosive lingering on Victor’s clothes and the hot copper signature of the detonator wires.
"Left!" Mara shouted to Dominic, reading Rook’s head shifts in real-time. "He went left behind the refrigeration units!"
Dominic rounded the corner of the high steel units just as Victor Vance aimed his pistol toward the darkness.
BANG! BANG!
Dominic ducked behind a steel pillar, concrete chips flying into the air near his face.
"You're too late, Dominic!" Victor Vance’s rasping voice echoed through the foggy warehouse rafters. "Six years ago, I turned your precious wife into ash! And tonight, I’m going to bury you under this pier!"
Dominic’s breath hitched. A dark, terrifying crimson fury flooded his dark eyes. He stepped out from behind the pillar, preparing to storm Victor’s position regardless of the gunfire.
"Dominic, STOP!" Mara screamed from behind him.
Dominic froze.
Mara dropped to her knees beside Rook. The blind dog was sniffing frantically at a thin, micro-filament tripwire stretched six inches above the floor directly in front of Dominic’s boots—a wire connected to a ten-pound block of C4 strapped to the main support pillar.
If Dominic had taken one more step, the pillar would have collapsed, bringing forty tons of steel down upon their heads.
Dominic looked down at the invisible wire, then at the blind dog whose nose had saved his life for the second time.
"Good boy, Rook," Dominic whispered, his voice trembling with profound awe.
On the upper catwalk, Victor Vance reached the roof door, pushing it open into the cold night air.
"He's escaping!" Mara yelled.
Dominic didn't hesitate. "Rook! SEEK!"
The command—a command Rook hadn't heard in seven years—rang through the warehouse like a trumpet call.
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Rook didn't need eyes. He didn't need a tripwire guide.
The blind Cane Corso launched himself forward like a black missile, charging up the iron fire escape stairs with terrifying speed, his massive paws slamming against the steel steps as he tracked Victor’s scent directly into the fog on the roof.
