Chapter 4 - Trapped in the Harbor
The deafening roar of automatic gunfire echoed through the hollow steel structures of Terminal Nine. Chunks of concrete and rusted metal erupted around Ethan and Claire as they pressed themselves tightly against the load-bearing pillar.
"Hold Titan’s collar!" Ethan shouted over the din, drawing his pistol. "Do not let go of him, no matter what!"
Claire wrapped her arms around the massive dog’s neck, hugging him close. Titan stayed remarkably low, his body tense as a coiled spring, letting out low, murderous rumbles whenever the muzzle flashes lit up the dark warehouse.
Outside, at least a dozen heavily armed men were advancing in a tactical wedge, led by the scarred man from the diner and Marcus Caldwell himself. Marcus was a man in his late fifties, wearing an expensive wool coat, holding a silver-handled cane despite walking with no apparent limp. His eyes were cold, calculating, and devoid of remorse.
"Ethan!" Marcus called out, his voice smooth and echoing through the rainy night. "Give me the ledger and the girl! I’ll let you walk out of this city alive! You can take your trust fund and live out your days in Europe! Why die for a dead dock worker's daughter?"
Ethan looked at Claire. In the dim, flashing light of the gunfire, his eyes were intense, unyielding.
"I spent my whole life thinking my family’s wealth was built on commerce," Ethan said softly to her. "I didn't realize it was built on blood until I saw what they did to your father. I’m not letting him take another Whitaker."
Ethan leaned out from behind the pillar, firing three precise shots. Three of Marcus’s mercenaries dropped instantly, taking cover behind a stack of rusted shipping containers.
"We need to get to the lower catwalks," Ethan instructed, pointing toward a narrow steel staircase at the rear of the office that led down to the water level. "There's an old tugboat dock under the pier. If we can reach the water, I have a contact on standby."
"What about Marcus?" Claire asked, clutching the heavy ledger to her chest.
"He wants this book more than he wants my life," Ethan said. "As long as you have it, he won't use heavy explosives. We use that to our advantage."
Ethan threw a flashbang grenade he had grabbed from his garage locker out into the main corridor. A blinding flash and a concussive boom rocked the entire terminal, disorienting Marcus’s men.
"Move!" Ethan yelled.
They bolted down the rusting metal staircase, descending into the dark, damp belly of Terminal Nine. Below, the ocean waves slapped violently against the wooden pilings, sending sea spray high into the air. The smell of diesel fuel and salt was overwhelming.
They ran along the slippery wooden walkway beneath the main floor. Behind them, heavy footsteps echoed on the steel stairs above. Marcus’s men were recovering quickly.
"There!" Claire pointed toward a faded wooden dock where an old, operational speed launch was tied to a iron cleat—likely left behind by Marcus's advance team as a getaway vessel.
Suddenly, a bullet struck the wooden catwalk inches from Claire's feet, sending splinters flying into the air. She stumbled, losing her grip on the ledger. The heavy book slid across the slick wood, stopping right at the edge of the platform above the churning black ocean.
"Claire, leave it!" Ethan yelled, turning to fire back at two gunmen emerging from the stairwell.
"No!" Claire cried out. "Not after ten years!"
She dropped to her knees, sliding across the wet planks, her fingers reaching out into the dark. Her hands caught the edge of the oilskin package just as it began to tip into the sea.
A heavy boot stepped onto her hand.
Claire gasped in pain, looking up. Standing above her was the scarred man from the diner. He looked down at her with a cruel, triumphant sneer, pointing his weapon directly at her forehead.
"End of the line, little waitress," he purred.
Before he could pull the trigger, Titan launched himself from the shadows. The hundred-and-forty-pound dog hit the gunman like a freight train, knocking him off the edge of the catwalk. The man screamed as he plummeted thirty feet into the freezing, turbulent ocean below, his gun firing harmlessly into the night air.
Ethan sprinted over, grabbing Claire by her collar and pulling her up. "Get to the boat! Now!"
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They slid down the final ramp onto the floating dock. Ethan jumped aboard the speed launch, hot-wiring the ignition in seconds. The powerful twin engines roared to life, churning the water into white foam.
Claire tumbled into the passenger seat, hugging Titan and the ledger close to her heart. Ethan slammed the throttle forward just as Marcus Caldwell stepped onto the catwalk above, watching in helpless fury as the boat smashed through the harbor waves and disappeared into the rainy darkness of Grayhaven Bay.
