Chapter 9 - The Rescue
I swam deeper, my lungs burning for oxygen.
I grabbed the mother's arm and pulled her toward the surface.
She was clutching Emma tightly to her chest.
I kicked hard, breaking the surface and gasping for the freezing air.
My men had finally arrived and were shining spotlights on the water.
They pulled us onto a speed boat and wrapped us in thermal blankets.
The mother was coughing up water, but she was alive.
Emma was crying, clinging to my neck like a lifeline.
I held my niece and promised her the nightmare was over.
We sped away from the burning pier as sirens wailed in the distance.
Back at a secure medical facility, the doctors checked them both.
They were bruised and exhausted, but they would survive.
The mother, whose name was Sarah, finally looked at me.
She thanked me for saving them.
She said Antonio always told her I was a good man.
I smiled, feeling a sense of peace I hadn't felt in years.
Then Sarah reached into her wet clothes and pulled out a plastic bag.
Inside the bag was a rusted key.
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She said Volkov didn't want the shipping ports.
He wanted what this key unlocked.
