Chapter 6 - Betrayal at the Docks
Chaos erupted.
Vance didn't surrender. He fired twice, dropping the two bodyguards flanking Julian. He grabbed Elena's arm, sprinting toward the labyrinth of rusted shipping containers as automatic gunfire shredded the asphalt where they had just been standing.
Sparks flew as bullets ricocheted off the corrugated steel. Vance shoved Elena behind a massive red container, returning fire into the fog to keep Silas's men pinned down.
"We're trapped!" Elena screamed over the deafening roar of gunfire.
"Keep moving! Toward the water!" Vance ordered, changing magazines with practiced efficiency.
They darted between the metal behemoths. Silas's men were closing in, a tactical net tightening around them. Vance took down two more mercenaries in a narrow corridor, his aim flawless, unbothered by the darkness. He had spent years working with millimeter precision; shooting a man at twenty yards was simple mathematics.
But as they reached the edge of the pier, a shadow dropped from the top of a container. A massive mercenary landed directly on Vance, knocking the Glock from his hand.
The two men crashed onto the wet concrete. Vance took a brutal punch to the jaw, his vision blurring. He rolled, sweeping the mercenary's legs, but a second guard rounded the corner, leveling an assault rifle at Elena's chest.
"Stop!" the guard yelled.
Vance froze.
Silas strolled out of the fog, flanked by a half-dozen armed men. He looked down at Vance, bleeding on the dock, and laughed.
"Search him," Silas commanded.
They patted Vance down, finding nothing. Silas walked over to Elena, violently snatching her purse. He dumped the contents onto the wet concrete. Out fell the small velvet pouch Julian had tossed back during the gunfire.
Silas opened it, pouring the three emeralds into his hand. He looked at them, confusion twisting his features. "What is this? Where is the Verdean Eye? Where is the ledger?!"
"It's gone, Silas," Vance spat blood onto the concrete. "I cut it. The ledger is dust in the East River. You're broke."
Silas’s face contorted in absolute rage. He backhanded Elena brutally, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Put her in the car," Silas roared to his men. "Take her to the Apex Club. I'm going to flay her alive. As for him..." Silas looked at Vance with dead eyes. "Put a bullet in his head and throw him in the river."
Silas turned and walked away. The guard raised his rifle, aiming directly at Vance's forehead.
Vance didn't close his eyes. As the guard’s finger tightened on the trigger, Vance reached into his boot, pulling a tiny, high-powered flashbang grenade he had built in his lab. He tossed it directly at the guard's feet and squeezed his eyes shut.
The explosion of light and sound was catastrophic.
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The guards screamed, dropping their weapons, completely blinded. Vance didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, tackling the closest blinded guard off the edge of the pier. They plummeted thirty feet into the freezing, pitch-black waters of the East River.
Vance sank into the abyss, holding his breath as the cold paralyzed his muscles. He had lost Elena. He had lost the stones. But he was alive. And now, he was angry.
