Chapter 6 - The Iron Pier
The high-output marine engine roared to life, shooting the cigarette boat across the black, choppy waters of Lake Michigan.
Rain lashed against Luca's face as he stood behind the steering wheel, his legs braced against the vibrating deck.
With every passing minute, the feeling in his lower limbs became sharper and more defined.
The agonizing pins and needles had given way to a dull, throbbing ache of exhausted muscle tissue.
"We have twelve minutes before Viktor's deadline," Elena yelled over the roar of the wind and engine.
She was checking the magazine of a Glock pistol she had taken from the fallen mercenary.
"You know how to shoot, Elena?" Luca asked, glancing at her with newfound respect.
"My father was a Chicago cop, Luca," Elena said, her jaw set firm.
"I didn't raise Maya in this city by being helpless."
Ahead in the harbor fog, the rusted iron skeleton of Pier 44 emerged against the city lights.
Pier 44 was an abandoned meatpacking terminal with its own private railway siding and shipping docks.
Luca cut the boat's engine two hundred yards out, allowing the vessel to drift silently into the shadow of the rotting pilings.
Tommy pointed a small tactical monocular toward the upper catwalks of the facility.
"I count six snipers on the roof and four guards near the main loading bay," Tommy reported like a miniature soldier.
"You stay in the boat, Tommy," Luca said firmly, turning to the boy.
"No way, Mr. Costello!" Tommy protested.
"Maya is my friend, and I know how to navigate the industrial conveyor chutes!"
Luca looked into Tommy's defiant eyes and saw the same unyielding stubbornness that had kept himself alive for twelve years.
"If things go bad, you take this boat and you drive south until you hit Indiana," Luca said, handing him the ignition lanyard.
"Understood?"
Tommy swallowed hard and nodded.
Luca and Elena slipped into the freezing waist-deep water beneath the pier, wading toward the maintenance ladder.
Every step through the murky water was a monumental battle of willpower for Luca's recovering legs.
His muscles burned with lactic acid, but the image of Maya tied to that wooden pillar pushed him through the agony.
They climbed through a rusted drainage pipe that opened into the factory's lower mechanical room.
Above them, the heavy hum of commercial refrigeration units and the distant roar of a furnace vibrated through the floorboards.
Luca crept up the metal stairs, his suppressed rifle raised and ready.
May you like
Suddenly, a shadow fell across the landing above.
Before Luca could bring his sights up, an iron pipe swung through the darkness, striking Luca across the shoulder and knocking him down the metal steps.
