Chapter 7 - The Ambush at the Docks
Two weeks later, the Chicago winter had turned vicious. A blizzard raged across the city, blanketing the streets in three feet of snow and shutting down O'Hare Airport.
Anna stood inside the heated office trailer at the newly acquired Calumet Harbor shipping terminal. Outside, massive cranes swung giant shipping containers through the swirling whiteout.
"The final inspection is complete," Marcus said, stamping his boots as he entered the trailer, shaking snow from his wool cap. "The first European cargo ship docks tomorrow at dawn. We officially own the Midwest supply line, Anna. We won."
Anna was looking at a tablet, but her mind was miles away.
Since that day in the park, Vincent had vanished.
True to his word, he hadn't called. He hadn't sent flowers. He hadn't shown up at her hotel. But his presence was everywhere. The federal charges against Sophia had dominated the front pages of the *Chicago Tribune*. The Moretti syndicate had systematically dismantled every business associated with Sophia's family. Vincent had publicly stepped down as CEO of Moretti Holdings, transferring forty-nine percent of the voting shares to an independent trust held in the name of *Leo Vance Moretti*.
He had stripped himself of his own throne.
"Where is Leo?" Anna asked, looking up.
"He's in the secure breakroom with Mrs. Higgins," Marcus assured her, referring to the trusted Swiss nanny. "He’s coloring pictures of cargo ships."
Suddenly, the lights inside the trailer flickered and died.
The low hum of the industrial generators outside cut out instantly, leaving only the shrieking howl of the blizzard wind.
Marcus was moving before the darkness had fully settled. His hand drew a suppressed Glock 19 from his shoulder holster. "Stay behind me."
"Marcus, what is it?"
"The perimeter sensors just went offline," Marcus said, his voice dropping into a deadly, tactical hum. "Not a power outage. Someone cut the main trunk line."
A muffled gunshot cracked through the storm outside, followed by the heavy thump of a body hitting the metal siding of the trailer.
Marcus lunged toward the inner door to reach Leo, but before he could touch the handle, the front door of the trailer blew off its hinges with a concussive blast.
Three men in tactical gear, armed with automatic carbines, stormed into the trailer through the blinding snow. Marcus fired twice, dropping the first man instantly, but the second man swung the butt of his rifle, striking Marcus across the temple with brutal force. Marcus crashed to the floor, stunned, blood spraying across the linoleum.
Anna screamed, reaching for an emergency fire extinguisher to swing at the intruder, but a heavy gloved hand grabbed her throat, slamming her against the metal wall.
"Don't move, Miss Vance," a harsh, Slavic-accented voice barked through a ski mask. "Or we put a bullet through the kid in the next room."
Anna froze, her breath trapped in her chest, terror flooding her veins. "Who are you?! What do you want?!"
"Your ex-husband ruined a lot of powerful people when he tore up his contracts this month," the man growled, his grip tightening on her throat. "The Bratva doesn't like losing twenty million in port kickbacks because Vincent Moretti decided to find God. You and the boy are our insurance policy."
The door to the breakroom was kicked open.
A third man dragged little Leo out. The boy was crying hysterically, his small hands flailing. "Mommy! Mommy!"
"Leo!" Anna fought against the man holding her, clawing at his tactical vest with her fingernails. "Let him go! Take me! Leave him alone!"
"Shut up!" The man raised the pistol, aiming it directly at Anna’s forehead.
Suddenly, a deafening crash shook the entire trailer.
A black armored SUV rammed directly into the side of the trailer at forty miles an hour, crumpling the metal wall and pinning the man holding Leo against the splintered counter. The gun flew from the kidnapper's hand as he screamed in agony.
The driver’s door of the SUV kicked open through the mangled metal.
Vincent Moretti stepped out of the wreckage.
He had no weapon. His eyes were wide, feral, completely stripped of humanity.
"Get away from my family," Vincent roared.
The man holding Anna turned his rifle toward Vincent, but Vincent didn't duck. He didn't seek cover. He charged forward like a wounded bear, closing the distance in half a second.
*Crack! Crack!*
Two bullets tore through Vincent’s chest and shoulder. Anna screamed in horror as blood exploded from his wool coat.
Vincent didn't even slow down.
The momentum of his rage slammed the gunman to the floor. Vincent pinned the man’s rifle arm with his knee, grabbed the man’s head with both bare hands, and smashed it against the metal edge of the desk once, twice, until the man went limp.
The remaining gunman near the door raised his weapon to shoot Vincent in the back.
From the floor, Marcus groggily raised his Glock and fired three rapid shots through the gunman’s chest. The man collapsed backward out into the snow.
Silence descended upon the trailer, broken only by the howling blizzard and the sound of Leo’s frantic sobbing.
Anna scrambled across the floor on her hands and knees, grabbing Leo and pulling him fiercely against her chest, rocking him back and forth. "I have you, baby. I have you. You're safe. Mommy's here."
Then she looked up.
Vincent was kneeling in the center of the room. His hands were pressed against his left side, blood pouring between his fingers, staining his white shirt a terrifying, brilliant crimson. His breath came in ragged, wheezing gasps.
He looked at Anna.
Then he looked at Leo, tucked securely in her arms.
A faint, broken smile touched Vincent’s pale lips.
"You're safe," Vincent whispered, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. "Both of you... you’re safe."
May you like
His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed face-first onto the blood-spattered floor.
***
