Chapter 8 - The Confrontation
""Marcus!"" Gabriel's roar cut through the sound of the churning engines and howling wind like a crack of thunder.
The guards around the vehicles reacted instantly, drawing their weapons, but Gabriel fired first. Two rapid, deafening gunshots echoed through the shipyard, dropping two armed henchmen near the sedans before they could even level their sights. Gabriel advanced through the deluge like an unstoppable wraith, firing with surgical precision.
""Move! Get her on the boat!"" Marcus screamed, his voice thin and panicked as he scrambled toward the gangway, abandoning his cane in the oily puddles.
The heavy guard holding Mia sprinted toward the yacht, using the child as a human shield. Gabriel gritted his teeth, forced to hold his fire as he dove behind a stack of wooden pallets while bullets pinged violently against the metal containers around him.
""Gabriel! Behind you!"" Clara’s voice screamed through his earpiece.
Gabriel spun around just as a hidden lookout lunged at him from the shadows of a crane. But before the attacker could pull the trigger, the roar of an engine filled the pier. The matte-black SUV came barreling through the dark, slamming directly into the lookout and crushing him against the crane’s steel beam with a sickening crunch.
Clara threw the gear into reverse, spinning the SUV to form a protective metal barricade between Gabriel and the yacht's remaining shooters. She kicked open the passenger door from the inside. ""Get in! We have to cut off the slipway!""
Gabriel leaped into the passenger seat, his eyes wide with adrenaline and grim respect. ""You never listen, do you?""
""Never,"" Clara shouted, slamming her foot onto the gas pedal.
The SUV surged forward, plowing through the wooden barricades and smashing into the gangway just as the yacht's crew attempted to pull it up. The steel gangway crumpled under the truck's bullbar, pinning the luxury vessel to the concrete dock with a terrible screech of tearing metal.
The guard carrying Mia lost his footing on the violently rocking deck, tumbling backward and losing his grip on the little girl. Mia rolled onto the wet fiberglass deck, crying out in terror as the wind tore her hood away.
May you like
""Mia!"" Gabriel shouted, kicking his door open and lunging onto the slippery deck of the boat.
Marcus was already scrambling toward the wheelhouse, clutching a snub-nosed revolver. ""You should have died with them, Gabriel! Everything your father built was supposed to be mine!""
