Chapter 12 - The Reckoning in the Winter Fortress
The cargo freighter ploughed through the violent, freezing waves of Lake Michigan, heading toward open water.
Inside the reinforced wheelhouse, Elena was bound to a steel support beam with heavy zip-ties, her lip split and bleeding, but her head held high. Khnets stood over her, his Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, pacing like a caged beast.
"You ruined everything, you little bitch," Khnets snarled, grabbing her jaw with his heavy, leather-gloved hand. "My empire. My shipping lines. The Commission will hunt me for the massacre at the gala!"
Elena spat blood directly into his face.
"The Commission won't have the chance to hunt you, Roman," she whispered with a cold smile. "Because you won't live to see sunrise."
Before Khnets could strike her, the entire ship shuddered violently.
An explosive breach charge detonated against the lower hull of the freighter. Alarms wailed in a frantic, red strobe of emergency lights.
"What was that?!" Khnets roared to his helmsman.
"Intruder on the lower cargo deck!" the guard shouted over the comms. "It’s Romano! He’s alone, and he’s slaughtering everyone in the engine room!"
Khnets drew his sidearm, his eyes wild with terror. "Kill him! Kill him now!"
Gunfire echoed through the steel corridors below—steady, rhythmic, and absolute. One by one, the radio check-ins from Khnets' guards went silent.
Elena used the distraction. Sliding her hand against the seam of her combat pants, she popped the hidden ceramic razor from her belt buckle and sliced through the industrial zip-ties in two clean strokes.
The heavy steel door of the wheelhouse was blown off its hinges with a thunderous blast of C4.
Vincent stepped through the smoke. His tactical vest was shredded, his face streaked with rain and blood, holding a heavy shotgun in one hand and an assault rifle in the other. He looked like an archangel of death.
The two guards in the wheelhouse raised their weapons, but Vincent fired twice without breaking stride, dropping them instantly onto the steel grating.
Khnets, panicked and desperate, lunged toward Elena to use her as a human shield.
He was too slow.
Elena sprang forward like a coiled viper. She ducked under Khnets' arm, snatched the tactical blade from his belt, and drove it deep into his shoulder, twisting the blade with ruthless force. Khnets screamed, dropping his weapon and stumbling back against the navigation console.
Vincent stepped up beside her, leveling his shotgun directly at Khnets' chest.
Elena reached out, gently placing her hand over the barrel of Vincent's gun, lowering it.
May you like
"He’s mine," Elena said quietly.
Vincent looked at her, saw the six years of grief, pain, and fury in her eyes, and stepped back, nodding. "He's all yours, Elena."
