Chapter 16 - Blood on Cold Steel
The rain suddenly felt warmer than the ice running through my veins.
"You want me to beg, Daniel?" I murmured, taking one deliberate step forward.
"Kneel!" Daniel shrieked, his voice cracking under the storm. "On your knees, you arrogant b—"
He never finished the word.
In one seamless, blinding motion, my right hand whipped from inside my trench coat. The suppressed 9mm came up, coughing twice in a whisper of lethal precision.
*Phut. Phut.*
The two armed guards standing beside Daniel collapsed instantly, bullets finding the center of their foreheads before their brains could register the movement.
Daniel shrieked in horror, stumbling backward and letting go of the baby basket.
"Kill her!" Lucian roared, diving behind the reinforced steel plating of the wheelhouse.
Gunfire erupted across the deck of *The Marauder*. Bullets pinged violently off the iron gangway, throwing white-hot sparks into the midnight rain.
I didn't retreat. A mother does not retreat when her child is in the crosshairs.
I vaulted forward, using an industrial crane pulley as momentary cover, firing with cold, surgical accuracy. A third guard stepped out from the cargo hatch; my shot shattered his knee, the follow-up silenced his screams permanently.
Daniel was crawling toward the basket, his face twisted in panic, reaching for Aurelia. "I’ll do it! I swear I’ll throw her over!"
I cleared the fifteen feet between the pier and the gangplank in a dead sprint, my boot slamming into Daniel’s chest before his fingers could touch the silk blanket. The impact fractured three of his ribs with an audible *snap*. He flew across the wet deck, slamming into the ship's bulkhead and vomiting blood.
I lunged for the basket, scooping it into my left arm while keeping my firearm leveled at the companionway.
Beneath the silk blanket, Aurelia’s big, indigo-blue eyes blinked open. She let out a tiny, frightened whimper, her little fists reaching toward the scent of my skin.
"Mama's here," I whispered, shielding her against my chest beneath the protective fold of my kevlar coat. "Mama has you, my love."
Suddenly, the cold, heavy barrel of a revolver pressed firmly against the base of my skull.
"Drop the weapon, Miss Thorne," Lucian Laurent’s voice hissed from behind me. "Or her first memory will be the sound of your head exploding."
My fingers tightened around my grip. Slowly, agonizingly, I let my 9mm slip from my hand, clattering against the wet iron grating of the deck.
Lucian chuckled, stepping around to face me, his pistol never wavering from between my eyes. His scarred face gleamed with victorious triumph.
"Magnificent," he sneered, wiping rain from his brow. "Arthur raised a tigress. But you forgot one simple rule of engagement, little girl. You came alone."
From the shadows of the wheelhouse, four more heavily armed mercenaries emerged, their assault rifles raised, completely surrounding me on the open deck.
Beside the bulkhead, Daniel struggled to his knees, clutching his broken ribs, spitting red onto the floor and laughing like a madman. "Shoot her, Lucian! Shoot them both! Blow her brains out!"
I looked past Lucian’s shoulder, out toward the dark horizon of the churning ocean.
"I didn't come alone, Lucian," I said, a slow, cold smile touching my lips.
May you like
Lucian frowned, his finger tightening slightly on the trigger. "Do not bluff with me. Our radar has been clear for twenty miles."
"Your radar scans the sea," I replied softly, rocking Aurelia gently against my heart. "You should have checked the sky."