Chapter 5 - The Snake in the Grass
Mrs. Keller’s face was twisted into a grotesque, panicked sneer, her rain-soaked grey hair plastered against her forehead.
"Give me the girl, Mara," Mrs. Keller hissed, her hand shaking as she leveled the pistol at my face. "Dominic has two boats waiting at the pier! If I bring him the child, he’ll let me leave the country!"
"You betrayed him, Keller!" I shouted, my voice trembling as I raised Damen’s silver pistol with both hands, aiming it at her chest. "Damen gave you a home for twelve years!"
"Damen is a monster!" Keller spat, taking a step toward the SUV. "He destroyed everything he touched! Now give me the girl or I'll blow your brains across this seat!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Atlas moved.
The ninety-pound mastiff didn't bark. He didn't hesitate.
Atlas launched himself out of the open SUV door like a cannonball, his massive jaws snapping shut around Mrs. Keller’s gun wrist with a sickening crunch.
Mrs. Keller let out a blood-curdling shriek of agony as the pistol clattered to the wet asphalt. Atlas dragged her heavy body to the ground, pinning her shoulder beneath his massive paws, his yellow teeth hovering an inch from her throat.
"Get him off me! Get him off me!" Keller screamed, thrashing wildly in the puddles.
I stepped out of the vehicle into the pouring rain, keeping Damen’s silver gun trained on her face, my body shielding Ellie who was watching wide-eyed from the backseat.
"Call him off, Mara!" Keller sobbed, her arm bleeding heavily through her slicker. "Please! I'll tell you everything! Dominic isn't in the warehouse! It’s a trap!"
My blood ran cold. "What did you say?"
"The warehouse... it’s rigged with military explosives!" Keller wept, her face covered in mud and tears. "Dominic knew Damen would trace my phone! He set a decoy inside to draw Damen and his entire security team into the central bay!"
"Damen!" I screamed into the rain, turning toward the dark warehouse.
At that exact second, a deafening, thunderous explosion shattered the night sky.
A blinding pillar of orange fire erupted from the center of the warehouse, blasting the heavy steel roof off its frame and sending a massive shockwave tumbling across the industrial yard.
The force of the blast knocked me onto my hands and knees in the mud. Shards of glass and twisted metal rained down around us as thick, black smoke billowed into the dark rainy sky.
"No... no!" I gasped, scrambling to my feet, staring at the roaring inferno that had swallowed the warehouse.
The entire structure was collapsing into a mountain of twisted steel and burning timber.
Mrs. Keller lay weeping in the mud, but Atlas stood beside me, his head raised toward the flames, letting out a long, mournful howl that cut through the sound of roaring fire.
Then, through the thick, swirling smoke near the burning side entrance of the building, a shadow emerged.
It moved slowly, limping heavily through the heat and embers.
A tall man, his black coat scorched and torn, carrying a bloody submachine gun in one hand, stepped through the curtain of fire.
It was Damen Romano.
Beside him walked Leo Vance, his face covered in soot, dragging a second wounded guard.
Damen stopped in the middle of the rain-slicked yard, wiping blood from his forehead, his dark eyes locking onto Mrs. Keller weeping at my feet.
Atlas trotted forward, pressing his snout against Damen’s hand, giving a single, deep bark.
Damen reached down, resting his calloused hand on the beast's neck, before looking up at me.
His face was bruised, covered in ash and blood, but his dark eyes were bright with a fierce, absolute triumph.
"Dominic Moretti thought he could hide behind a bomb," Damen rasped, his voice echoing over the roar of the flames as he stepped closer to us. "He was waiting in the speed boat at the end of the pier."
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He pointed his gun toward the dark waters of Lake Michigan, where a column of black smoke was rising from a burning vessel sinking into the cold depths.
"The Moretti family is gone, Mara," Damen said softly, taking a ragged breath as he stopped in front of me and Ellie. "It’s over."
