Chapter 7 - The Battle on the Causeway
The storm raged over the harbor as gunfire erupted across the causeway.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Muzzle flashes illuminated the heavy sheets of rain as Mason’s men engaged Vance’s shooters along the concrete barriers.
Adrian moved with terrifying precision. Despite the burning pain in his abdomen, he used the heavy frame of the armored SUV for cover, firing controlled three-round bursts that drove Vance’s men back toward the semi-trucks.
"Get the RPG!" Julian Vance screamed from the top of the trailer, pointing down at Adrian’s vehicle. "Destroy his car!"
A mercenary on the trailer shoulder raised a shoulder-fired rocket launcher, aiming directly at the SUV where Grace and Lily were sitting.
"TARGET THE LEAD CAR!" Vance roared.
Inside the SUV, Lily looked through the rear window.
Her nose twitched frantically. The sharp, bitter scent of sulfur and burning chemical propellant wafted through the vehicle's air vents from the storm outside.
"Mama!" Lily shrieked, pointing out the window. "The sky smells like fireworks! The hot smell!"
Grace looked up, seeing the mercenary on top of the trailer locking the rocket launcher onto their vehicle.
"ADRIAN!" Grace screamed through the cracked window. "THE TRAILER!"
Adrian heard her voice over the roar of the wind.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't look for cover.
Adrian stepped out into the open rain, raised his weapon, and fired a full magazine straight up at the mercenary holding the rocket launcher.
TRRRRRRRR!
The bullets struck the mercenary's chest just as he pulled the trigger.
The rocket misfired, careening wildly off course and striking the fuel tank of the jackknifed semi-truck instead.
FROOSH-BOOM!
A massive fireball erupted into the night sky, engulfing the top of the trailer in a wave of blinding orange flame.
The explosion blew Julian Vance off the top of the semi-truck. He crashed heavily onto the wet asphalt deck of the bridge twenty feet below, his leather coat catching fire as he rolled across the rain-slicked road.
Vance screamed in agony, beating out the flames with his hands as his remaining mercenaries panicked and fled into the darkness toward the access roads.
The causeway fell silent, save for the crackle of the burning truck tires and the steady patter of rain.
Drenched to the skin, blood seeping through the front of his dark sweater where his surgical stitches had torn, Adrian walked slowly toward the fallen form of Julian Vance.
Vance lay on his back, coughing blood, his face scorched by the explosion. He looked up, his eyes filled with absolute terror as Adrian’s shadow fell over him.
"Adrian..." Vance wheezed, holding up a burned, trembling hand. "Please... it was Moretti... Moretti ordered the hit... I was just following orders..."
Dante looked down at him with cold, unyielding eyes.
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"You threatened my family, Julian," Adrian said softly, his voice cutting through the sound of the rain. "In Port Lawson, that's a sentence there's no coming back from."
Adrian raised his weapon and ended the threat forever.
