Chapter 5 - THE ASHES OF RETRIBUTION
A thunderous explosion miles away rattled the hospital suite's double-glazed windows. Across the bay, a towering plume of black smoke billowed into the afternoon sky, blotting out the sun.
Gabriel’s comms screamed with panic. "Code Black! Bayonne Terminal is burning! We have three hundred personnel trapped behind the perimeter wall!"
Dominic didn't hesitate. "Gabriel, Dante—mobilize the heavy tactical response. Leo, secure the perimeter around this hospital. No one enters or leaves."
"I'm coming with you," I said, stepping toward the wardrobe where a tailored tactical suit had been prepared for me.
"Elena, you’re still healing—" Christian began, but I cut him off with a look that silenced the financial titan mid-sentence.
"Adrian thought he broke me," I said, slipping on the combat boots and strapping a twin-blade sheath to my thigh. "He only burned away the weakness. If the Thornes want a war with the Moretti family, they will face all six of us."
Kaelen Chen watched me with undisguised admiration. He pulled a silver communicator from his pocket and spoke two words in Cantonese. Outside, the synchronized rumble of eight high-performance sports cars and a twin-rotor combat helicopter drowned out the city traffic.
"My gunships are at your disposal, Miss Moretti," Kaelen said smoothly, offering his hand. "Shall we burn our enemies together?"
I looked at his outstretched hand, then met his golden eyes. "Only if you can keep up."
Twenty minutes later, our convoy breached the burning gates of the Bayonne logistics terminal. Fire raged through shattered fuel pipelines, and automatic gunfire crackled across the container yard.
The Thorne family had been our rivals for decades, lurking in the shadows of maritime shipping. Seeing the Moretti family distracted by the Vance scandal, Julian Thorne had struck, attempting to decapitate our economic foundation in one ruthless blow.
Fifty Thorne mercenaries held the central administrative building, pinning down our security forces.
"Thermal imaging shows Julian Thorne on the third-floor control deck," Dante reported from the rear of the command van, typing furiously on his tactical deck. "He has detonators linked to the remaining liquid gas tanks. If he presses that button, half the harbor vaporizes."
"We can't breach the front," Dominic analyzed, studying the blueprints. "The stairwells are rigged with C4."
"Then we don't use the stairs," I said, strapping a grappling harness around my waist.
Kaelen raised an eyebrow. "External ventilation shaft from the roof?"
"Exactly," I replied.
"Suicidal," Leo muttered, though a savage grin spread across his face. "I love it."
Within minutes, Kaelen’s helicopter hovered through the dense black smoke above the warehouse roof. Dropping through the ventilation shaft with Kaelen at my side, we moved like twin shadows. My blades found the throats of two sentries before they could raise their carbines. Kaelen’s suppressed pistol took down three more with terrifying, rhythmic precision.
We breached the control room doors just as Julian Thorne—a bloated, silver-haired warlord—slammed his fist onto the console, his thumb hovering over a red detonator.
"Back off, Moretti bastards!" Julian screamed, sweat pouring down his jowly face. "One move and we all burn!"
Behind Julian stood his personal enforcer. But to my utter disbelief, huddled behind the desk, clutching an assault rifle with trembling hands, was Adrian Vance.
Julian had plucked Adrian from the gutter to use his knowledge of our biometric security codes.
Adrian looked up, his bloodshot eyes wide with manic horror as he saw me standing beside Kaelen Chen. "Elena?! You're supposed to be in the hospital! How are you even alive?!"
"Disappointed, Adrian?" I asked, stepping into the room, my twin daggers gleaming under the emergency strobe lights.
Julian snarled, his thumb pressing down toward the detonator. "Die, all of you!"
A flash of silver sliced through the air.
My throwing knife buried itself hilt-deep through Julian Thorne’s hand, pinning his palm to the oak console an inch above the button. Julian shrieked in agony as Kaelen closed the distance, his sidearm discharging twice—shattering both of Julian’s kneecaps. The warlord collapsed, wailing.
Adrian dropped his rifle, raising his hands in frantic surrender, tears streaming through the grime on his face. "Elena! Please! Julian forced me! He said he’d feed me to the dogs if I didn't give him your harbor access codes! Have mercy!"
I walked over to him slowly, pulling my second dagger from its sheath. The cold steel touched the hollow of Adrian’s throat.
"You had thirty chances to show mercy, Adrian," I whispered. "One for every lash."
Adrian sobbed, wetting his pants for the second time in three days. "I’ll do anything! I’ll sign a public confession! I’ll go to prison!"
"Prison is too safe for you," I said.
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Suddenly, the control room’s master terminal flashed crimson. An automated voice blared across the facility: Manual Override Initiated. Secondary Core Meltdown in Two Minutes.
Julian Thorne coughed up blood, laughing maniacally from the floor. "You fools... you thought I needed a detonator? The countdown started the moment your helicopter touched the roof! We’re all going to hell together!"
