Chapter 17 - Blood in the Salt
I fired three rapid shots as I dove across the upper steel gantry.
The first round caught the lead shooter squarely in the chest, knocking him backward off the loading dock into the black water below. The second shot took out the lights above the main staging area, plunging the warehouse into a chaos of muzzle flashes and deafening echoes.
TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!
Automatic fire tore through the wooden crates where I landed. Splinters of wood and rust sprayed across my face.
"Claire! Get down!" I yelled over the din.
I rolled behind a heavy iron forklift, dropped the empty magazine from my Sig Sauer, and slapped a fresh 20-round clip into the magwell.
A mercenary charged around the side of the forklift, his rifle raised. I swept his legs with a low kick, brought my pistol up, and neutralized him before he hit the ground.
I sprinted toward the loading dock. Vane was retreating toward a speedboat moored at the edge of the pier, holding Claire by her hair, pulling her backward as a human shield while pointing his revolver at my head.
"Drop the gun, Vance!" Vane screamed over the wind and rain. "Drop it or I blow her head off right here!"
I froze thirty feet away, my pistol raised, the sights aligned directly with Vane's forehead—but Claire was blocking half his face.
"David! Don't!" Claire cried out, her eyes locked on mine through the pouring rain. "Save the children!"
"Shut up!" Vane backhanded her, sending her to her knees, but keeping his grip tight on her coat. "Drop the gun, Vance! Count of three! One! Two—"
From behind Vane, a small, dark shape flew through the air.
THACK!
A sharp cedar shingle—part of Eli's wooden birdhouse—struck Vane square in his open eye.
Vane shrieked in sudden pain, dropping his grip on Claire as his hands flew to his bloodied face.
"Now, Dad!" Eli screamed from the loading dock, holding the shattered remains of his birdhouse.
May you like
I didn't hesitate. I squeezed the trigger twice.
The rounds struck Vane in the chest. He stumbled backward over the edge of the dock, splashing heavily into the dark, freezing waters of Lake Michigan.
