Chapter 5 - Gunfire in the Rain
The darkness of Warehouse Seven erupted into strobes of muzzle flashes and the deafening clatter of automatic fire.
Dante shoved Isabella down behind the reinforced steel lockers, covering her entirely with his own armored body.
Bullets ricocheted off the metal cabinets above them, raining jagged shrapnel and hot brass across the concrete floor.
"Stay down and do not move!" Dante shouted over the thunderous roar of the firefight.
Isabella curled onto her side, wrapping both arms around her belly, whispering desperate prayers for her unborn child.
Dante rose to one knee, bringing his assault rifle up and firing three controlled bursts into the catwalk above.
Two of Vance’s mercenaries screamed as the heavy rounds tore through them, sending their bodies crashing thirty feet down.
"Mateo! Flank the eastern stairs!" Dante bellowed into his tactical headset.
"On it, Boss! Vance is retreating toward the skybridge connecting to Pier 42!" Mateo’s voice crackled back through the static.
Dante looked down at Isabella, checking her quickly for any wounds, his eyes fierce with protective fury.
"Are you hit?" he demanded, scanning her dark clothing for the telltale sheen of fresh blood.
"I’m fine... the baby is fine... Go get your daughter, Don Dante!" Isabella cried out, thrusting the silo keys into his hand.
Dante grabbed two of his most trusted personal guards, shoving them toward Isabella’s position.
"If she gets a single scratch, I will execute you both myself," Dante snarled with lethal sincerity.
"Get her into the armored Suburban and secure the perimeter; I am finishing this," he ordered.
"Yes, Don Dante!" the guards responded, immediately forming a moving wall of ballistic shields around Isabella.
Dante did not look back; he charged through the smoking debris of the warehouse like an unstoppable force of nature.
He vaulted over the twisted metal debris, his boots crushing shattered glass as he pursued Senator Vance’s blood trail.
The rain slammed against Dante’s face as he burst through the exit doors onto the elevated skybridge overlooking the dark harbor.
Below him, the black waters of Lake Michigan churned violently against the rotting timber piers.
A massive cargo freighter, the *North Star*, was already unmooring, its deep diesel engines rumbling through the wet night air.
Fifty yards ahead on the metal walkway, Senator Vance was limping, clutching a bleeding shoulder where Dante’s round had grazed him.
"VANCE!" Dante’s voice cut through the howling wind like the crack of a whip.
The Senator spun around, raising a gold-plated pistol with shaking hands, but Dante was faster.
Dante fired a single round, completely shattering Vance’s right knee and sending the corrupt politician screaming onto the grating.
Dante walked up to the groveling man, kicking the golden gun off the skybridge and into the dark abyss below.
He planted his heavy boot directly onto Vance’s shattered knee, applying slow, agonizing pressure until the Senator wept like a child.
"Where is the silo entrance?" Dante asked, his eyes devoid of any pity or humanity.
"Sub-level three... beneath the grain elevator... they haven't loaded her onto the ship yet, they were waiting for me!" Vance sobbed.
"Why did you do this to my family?" Dante asked, digging the heel of his boot deeper into the wound.
"Because your father made mine crawl, and Elena found the ledgers that would have sent me to federal prison for life!" Vance spat through bloody teeth.
"Then you should have killed me five years ago, Senator," Dante said with terrifying calmness.
Dante raised his weapon and struck Vance across the skull with the heavy steel stock, knocking him into unconsciousness.
He keyed his radio, speaking to his entire fleet of enforcers scattered across the waterfront.
May you like
"Block the freighter from leaving the channel with our tugboats," Dante commanded.
"I am going into the silo to get my daughter," he stated, turning toward the massive concrete towers looming against the stormy sky.
