Chapter 9 - The Rescue
They drove me to an abandoned meatpacking warehouse on the edge of the city. For three agonizing hours, Moretti's men beat me relentlessly. I was tied to a metal chair in the center of a freezing, blood-stained room. Every muscle in my body screamed in pain, but I refused to speak a single word. Moretti paced in front of me, furious that he could not unlock the hard drive. "You are going to die slowly, Daniel," he promised, pulling a hunting knife from his belt. He placed the cold steel against my throat. Suddenly, a massive explosion blew the heavy steel doors of the warehouse completely off their hinges. Blinding flashbang grenades rolled across the concrete floor, detonating with deafening force. Moretti stumbled backward, dropping his knife in the blinding white light. A heavily armed FBI tactical team swarmed into the room from every direction. At the front of the formation was Maria, wearing a bulletproof vest and holding an assault rifle. She had not run away to hide. She had gone straight to her agency's headquarters to call in a full tactical raid. The warehouse erupted into a chaotic, close-quarters firefight. Moretti's men were entirely overwhelmed by the highly trained federal agents. Maria sprinted through the crossfire and dropped to her knees beside my chair. She pulled a knife and frantically sawed through the thick ropes binding my wrists. "I told you I loved you," she yelled over the gunfire. I smiled weakly as she helped me stand up on my trembling legs. Suddenly, Moretti emerged from the smoke, bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He raised his weapon, aiming it directly at Maria's exposed back. I did not have time to shout a warning. I threw myself forcefully in front of Maria just as Moretti pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through my stomach with the heat of a branding iron. I collapsed to the concrete floor, gasping for air. Maria spun around and fired a relentless burst from her rifle. Moretti fell dead to the ground, his tyrannical reign finally over. Maria dropped her weapon and pressed her hands desperately against my bleeding wound. "Stay with me, Daniel, please stay with me!" she screamed as my vision faded to black.
