Chapter 8 - The Docks of Midnight
The grand ballroom of the Commerce Tower glittered with crystal chandeliers, expensive champagne, and hundreds of Chicago’s elite political donors. At the main podium, Senator Thomas Vance—a tall man with silver hair and a rehearsed, fake smile—was giving a speech about child welfare and urban development.
"We must protect the future of our city!" Vance proclaimed into the microphones, his voice echoing across the hall as applause broke out.
Behind the stage, hidden in the VIP control corridor, Viktor Kozlov stood surrounded by four armed enforcers, holding an earpiece to his ear.
"Status on the Vale estate!" Kozlov barked into his phone.
"Sir... our team failed," a frantic voice answered over the static. "Gideon Vale's men wiped out the assault squad. Vale knows everything!"
Kozlov swore loudly, slamming his fist against the wall. "Get the Senator out of here now! We're leaving the country tonight!"
"I'm afraid your flight has been canceled, Kozlov," a quiet, lethal voice spoke from the darkness of the corridor.
Kozlov spun around, drawing his pistol!
Gideon Vale stepped out of the shadow of the service doorway, dressed in a sharp black suit. Before Kozlov’s men could raise their weapons, Marcus and four Vale enforcers stepped up behind Gideon, their suppressed pistols taking down Kozlov’s four guards in four synchronized, quiet bursts!
Kozlov fell back against the wall, his gun shaking as he aimed it at Gideon’s chest. "Vale! Stay back! You don't know what you're interfering with! Vance has federal backing!"
"Vance has nothing," Gideon said coldly.
At that exact second, a gasp erupted from the grand ballroom!
Through the glass partition, Kozlov and Gideon watched as the massive projection screens behind Senator Vance suddenly glitched, turning bright red before loading hundreds of bank receipts, audio recordings, and police reports detailing Vance and Kozlov’s crimes!
Vance’s face turned ghostly white on live national television as his own recorded voice echoed through the ballroom speakers: “Eliminate the accountant and her child. I don't care how many bodies it takes.”
Chaos exploded across the ballroom as reporters shouted and federal agents who had been monitoring the event moved in to surround the podium, placing handcuffs on the disgraced Senator!
Inside the corridor, Kozlov panicked, pulling his trigger!
Gideon moved with lightning speed, sidestepping the shot and grabbing Kozlov’s wrist, driving a brutal knee into his midsection! The gun dropped to the floor as Gideon twisted Kozlov’s arm, slamming him violently face-first against the marble floor, pinning him under his heavy boot.
"It's over, Viktor," Gideon growled down at the defeated mobster. "You tried to hunt a child. Now the entire world knows what you are."
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FBI tactical teams flooded the corridor seconds later, their weapons trained on Kozlov as Marcus handed them the hard copies of the evidence files.
Kozlov was dragged away in chains, screaming curses, while Gideon straightened his tie, looking out through the glass as the corrupt political empire crumbled into ashes.
