Chapter 11 - The War Council.I dragged myself onto the freezing concrete of the pier, my muscles screaming in absolute agony.
Behind me, the shipyard continued to burn with a ferocious, blinding intensity.
Thick black smoke billowed into the night sky, a towering monument to Andrew's spectacular cowardice.
Victor hauled himself over the edge of the dock, coughing up seawater and gasping for breath.
He reached down and pulled a shivering, half-drowned Brenda onto the safety of the pavement.
She collapsed onto her hands and knees, violently vomiting harbor water onto the cracked cement.
Her flawless crimson gown was now a shredded, soaked ruin clinging to her trembling frame.
I pushed my soaking wet hair out of my face and stood up, ignoring the biting cold.
"Call my father," I ordered Victor, my voice completely devoid of any remaining mercy.
"Tell him the Navarros are officially sheltering a thief who stole from the Escalante syndicate."
Victor pulled a waterproof satellite phone from his tactical vest and dialed the emergency secure line.
Brenda looked up at me, her teeth chattering so violently she could barely speak.
"He tried to kill me," she whispered, her eyes wide with genuine, unadulterated shock.
"He promised me we would rule the city together, but he just left me to burn."
I knelt down in front of her, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look into my eyes.
"Men like Andrew do not share power, Brenda," I explained with a cold, hollow voice.
"They consume everything around them until there is nothing left but ash."
I stood back up, turning my attention to Victor as he ended the brief, intense phone call.
"Your father has mobilized the entire Escalante paramilitary division," Victor reported grimly.
"Three tactical gunships are currently en route to our position to extract us."
I nodded, staring out at the burning wreckage of Warehouse 4.
The time for corporate sabotage and courtroom games was officially over.
Andrew had crossed a line that could only be erased with blood and gunpowder.
Within ten minutes, the deafening roar of helicopter rotors tore through the stormy night air.
Three sleek, heavily armed Blackhawk helicopters descended onto the empty expanse of the docks.
Heavily armored Escalante operatives swarmed the area, securing a perimeter with lethal efficiency.
I boarded the lead chopper, completely ignoring the medics trying to hand me thermal blankets.
"We are going to the Navarro compound in the mountains," I told the pilot over the headset comms.
The pilot nodded, pulling back on the flight stick and sending the helicopter surging into the dark sky.
I looked down at the shrinking city, the empire I had built and protected for four grueling years.
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Andrew thought hiding behind a rival cartel would keep him safe from my wrath.
He was about to learn that when you wake a sleeping dragon, no fortress in the world can protect you from the fire.
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