Chapter 9 - The Fifteenth Man
Damon froze, his weapon raised but his finger hesitating on the trigger.
Preston was using Kate as a human shield, pressing his back against the cold steel of the container.
"Let her go, Preston, you have nowhere to run," Damon said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"I am not going to prison for a maid!" Preston shrieked, his words slurred and wet with blood.
He dragged Kate closer to the edge of the dark, churning harbor water.
Kate could feel the cold edge of the blade pressing painfully against her skin.
She looked at her mother, who was weeping in Matteo's protective grip.
Then she looked at Damon.
His eyes were locked onto hers, speaking a silent, desperate language she somehow understood.
He was waiting for a clear shot.
Kate took a deep breath, fighting the instinct to struggle.
Instead, she forced all of her body weight entirely limp, collapsing backward against Preston.
The sudden shift in dead weight caught Preston completely off guard.
He stumbled backward toward the water, his knife slipping just an inch away from her neck.
It was exactly the inch Damon needed.
Damon fired a single, deafening shot.
The bullet struck Preston directly in the center of his forehead.
Preston's grip vanished instantly, and his lifeless body tumbled backward over the edge of the pier.
He hit the dark water with a heavy splash, disappearing completely beneath the freezing waves.
The fifteenth man was gone.
Kate fell to her knees on the concrete, gasping for air as the adrenaline finally left her body.
Damon rushed forward, dropping his gun and pulling her fiercely into his arms.
He held her so tightly she could hear the frantic, powerful beating of his heart.
"You are safe now, Kate," he whispered fiercely into her hair.
"You are never going to be invisible again."
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The sun finally began to rise over the harbor, cutting through the thick fog with streaks of golden light.
The nightmare was over, and the dawn had arrived exactly as Damon had promised.
