Chapter 6 - THE EMERALD BRACELET
The Polaris shipping yard smelled of salt water, diesel exhaust, and freezing ozone.
Daniel parked the rusty laundry van near the employee entrance of Sector 7. The sky was overcast, casting a gray, oppressive gloom over the towering stacks of metal shipping containers.
"Radio check," Daniel's voice crackled in my earpiece.
"I hear you," I whispered, pushing a heavy, yellow trash cart in front of me.
I kept my head down, a faded baseball cap pulled low over my eyes. Just as I had predicted, the Vitiello guards—men in dark jackets with bulges under their arms—barely glanced at me. I was just the help. Invisible.
Two hours until the wedding.
I navigated through the labyrinth of rusted metal. The cold radiating from the refrigerated containers seeped through my coveralls, making my breath visible in the damp air.
"I'm in Sector 7," I murmured.
"Container 4B should be on the ground level, third aisle from the water," Daniel replied.
I turned the corner.
My heart sank.
Container 4B wasn't hidden. It was sitting dead center in the aisle, but two massive Vitiello guards were standing directly in front of the heavy steel locking bars, smoking cigarettes.
"Daniel, there are guards," I whispered, hiding behind a stack of wooden pallets.
"Stand by. I'll trigger a distraction on the far side of the yard."
"No," I said, my eyes locking onto something else.
Fifty feet above the guards, a massive gantry crane was moving along its tracks. The operator inside looked bored.
"I have an idea. Stay off the radio."
I abandoned the trash cart and slipped into the shadows, making my way to the base of the crane. I climbed the rusted access ladder, my burned hand screaming in agony with every rung. I forced myself to ignore the pain.
When I reached the catwalk, I peeked into the operator's cabin. He was listening to music, looking in the opposite direction.
I reached under the sleeve of my coverall and unclasped Luca's emerald bracelet.
It was a priceless heirloom. It broke my heart to use it, but I needed something heavy, shiny, and undeniably valuable.
I tossed the bracelet directly onto the steel grating of the walkway below, just twenty feet from the guards.
Clink.
The noise echoed in the quiet aisle.
One of the guards looked up. He spotted the glittering emeralds instantly.
Greed is universal.
He nudged his partner, pointed at the jewelry, and both men jogged away from the container to retrieve the prize.
The moment they were out of sight behind a stack of crates, I scrambled down the ladder and sprinted to Container 4B.
The heavy steel locking bar was frozen shut.
I grabbed it with both hands, ignoring the blistering agony in my right palm, and threw my entire body weight into it.
The latch popped.
I pulled the heavy door open just enough to slip inside, then pulled it shut behind me.
Total darkness.
And a cold so deep it stole the breath from my lungs.
"Anna?" I whispered, my teeth immediately chattering.
A weak, shivering gasp came from the back of the freezing box.
I pulled a small flashlight from my pocket and flicked it on.
Huddled in the corner, wrapped in a single, thin emergency blanket, was Anna. Her lips were blue. Frost clung to her eyelashes.
But clutched tightly to her chest, bundled inside her own blue sweater, was a tiny, sleeping infant.
"Oh, thank god," I sobbed, rushing forward and dropping to my knees.
"Who... who are you?" Anna stammered, her voice barely a croak.
"I'm a friend of Luca's," I said, stripping off my heavy coveralls and wrapping them around her and the baby. "We're getting you out of here."
"Michael," she wept, gripping my arm with frozen fingers. "They took Michael."
"Where?"
"He's not here. They took him to the cathedral. Vanessa wants him to watch the wedding. She wants him to see her take everything."
My stomach plummeted.
Michael wasn't dead. He was going to be executed at the wedding the moment the merger was signed.
I pressed my earpiece. "Daniel! Anna and the baby are secure. But Michael is at the church!"
Static hissed in my ear.
"Daniel?"
Nothing.
The heavy steel door of the container suddenly groaned.
Light flooded into the freezing box.
Standing in the doorway was a man I recognized from the engagement party. Vanessa's attorney, Marcus.
May you like
He was holding a gun, and dangling from his fingers was Luca's emerald bracelet.
"Well, well," Marcus sneered, stepping into the cold. "Vanessa thought Luca might try something stupid. But she never imagined he’d send the maid."
