Chapter 8 - The Shadow in the Sky
Dominic understood the silent message perfectly.
Julian had intentionally allowed the Moretti soldiers to bring them into the center of the pier.
He needed to stall for just a few more seconds.
"I choose my mother," Dominic said loudly, forcing a look of absolute defeat onto his face.
Hannah screamed in horror, struggling violently against the men holding her.
"No! Please don't let them kill my baby!" she begged wildly.
Carlo Moretti smiled, clearly enjoying the devastating emotional torture.
"A good, loyal Italian son," Carlo mocked, waving his hand at the guards.
"Release the old woman and execute the brother and the brat."
The guards holding Julian and Grace raised their weapons to fire.
Dominic shouted a code word from their childhood.
"Fire escape!" Dominic roared.
Julian instantly threw his body weight backward, knocking the guard holding him off balance.
At the exact same moment, a massive metallic groan echoed from the sky above them.
A heavy sniper rifle cracked from the top of the towering crane overlooking the pier.
The crane operator's glass cabin shattered.
The immense steel cable holding the shipping container above Carlo suddenly snapped.
A forty-ton metal box plummeted directly toward the center of the Moretti circle.
Carlo looked up, his sadistic smile instantly vanishing into pure terror.
Dominic dove forward, tackling his mother out of the crushing zone.
The shipping container slammed into the concrete with the force of an earthquake.
The impact instantly crushed Carlo Moretti and four of his heavily armed guards.
The shockwave knocked everyone else to the wet ground.
In the chaos, Julian spun around and drove his elbow into his captor's throat.
He snatched the guard's dropped weapon and shot the man holding Grace.
Julian caught his daughter in mid-air before she could hit the ground.
Dominic rolled to his feet, sweeping the leg of another guard and snapping his neck.
Gunfire erupted across the docks as the surviving Moretti men fired blindly in the rain.
"Get them behind the vehicles!" Dominic shouted to Julian.
Julian rushed Hannah, Grace, and their mother behind the bulletproof SUV.
Dominic picked up a fallen assault rifle and began providing heavy covering fire.
He systematically took down three more Moretti soldiers with cold precision.
The remaining enemies, seeing their boss crushed and their numbers dwindling, threw down their weapons and fled into the night.
The deafening roar of gunfire faded, replaced only by the sound of the pouring rain.
Dominic dropped the empty rifle and leaned heavily against the SUV, breathing hard.
His mother was crying, hugging Julian tightly as if she would never let go.
Hannah was kissing Grace's face repeatedly, whispering prayers of gratitude.
Dominic looked up at the towering crane, watching a dark figure climb down the ladder.
It was Vincent Rizzo, clutching his bleeding stomach but holding a long sniper rifle.
The security chief had survived the explosion and dragged himself here to finish the job.
Dominic smiled at his loyal friend, feeling a massive weight lift from his shoulders.
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The war was finally over.
But as Dominic turned to join his family, a cold metallic click sounded right behind his ear.
