CHAPTER 8 — The Trap at Black Harbor
CHAPTER 8 — The Trap at Black Harbor
The steel doors slammed shut with a deafening crash.
The echo rolled through the abandoned warehouse like thunder.
Andrew instinctively stepped backward.
Eight armed men slowly spread out, surrounding him in a wide circle.
There was nowhere to run.
The man standing beneath the lone overhead light smiled.
"Mr. Collins."
"I'm glad you accepted my invitation."
Andrew clenched his fists.
"Who are you?"
"My name isn't important."
"What matters..."
He took one step forward.
"...is what your father died trying to protect."
Andrew scanned the room.
Broken crates.
Rusted machinery.
No visible exits.
No weapons.
Just silence.
The stranger noticed him calculating.
"Don't bother."
"The doors are reinforced."
"Your phone has no signal."
Andrew slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"What do you want?"
The man chuckled.
"You've been asking the wrong question your entire life."
He stopped only a few feet away.
"The real question is..."
"Who wanted your father dead?"
Across town...
Three black Escalante SUVs raced through the rain.
Mariana sat in the lead vehicle.
Victor monitored multiple screens.
"We've triangulated Andrew's last location."
"The warehouse?"
Victor nodded.
"But there's something strange."
"What?"
"No electronic activity."
"No security cameras."
"No phones."
"It was professionally scrubbed."
Alejandro's former military security chief, Marcus Steele, looked up from the front seat.
"This wasn't organized by amateurs."
Mariana looked out the rain-covered window.
"Then we're already late."
Back inside the warehouse...
The stranger tossed a thick envelope onto the floor.
"Open it."
Andrew didn't move.
"Open it."
Slowly...
He bent down and picked it up.
Inside were photographs.
His father.
Meeting with lawyers.
Meeting with bankers.
Meeting with...
Mariana.
Andrew's eyes widened.
"What is this?"
"Three months before your father's death."
The stranger smiled.
"Your father met Mariana seven times."
Andrew stared at the photographs.
"No..."
"She never told me."
"No."
"She didn't."
"Because your father asked her not to."
Andrew's heartbeat quickened.
"They knew each other?"
The stranger nodded.
"Very well."
"He trusted her."
"Far more than he trusted you."
Andrew looked up angrily.
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
The stranger tossed another folder onto the floor.
Inside...
Copies of emails.
Richard Collins.
Alejandro Escalante.
Private correspondence spanning four years.
Business discussions.
Family concerns.
Warnings.
One email caught Andrew's attention.
Alejandro,
I'm worried about my son.
He has begun listening to my wife more than to reason.
If something happens to me...
Please make sure Mariana survives what's coming.
Andrew couldn't breathe.
His father had known.
Everything.
Suddenly—
A loud explosion echoed outside.
The armed men instinctively turned toward the sound.
The stranger frowned.
"Impossible."
Another explosion.
Closer this time.
Then—
The warehouse lights went out.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Outside...
Marcus Steele lowered a pair of military-grade bolt cutters.
"The secondary entrance is open."
Victor checked his watch.
"Thirty seconds."
Mariana looked toward the building.
"No."
She stepped out of the SUV.
"I'm going in."
Marcus immediately blocked her path.
"Absolutely not."
"Andrew is inside."
"He may already be dead."
Mariana looked directly at him.
"Then we're not wasting another second."
Marcus sighed.
He had protected the Escalante family for fifteen years.
He recognized that look.
Once Mariana made up her mind...
No one changed it.
Inside the warehouse...
Gunfire erupted.
Someone screamed.
Andrew dove behind a stack of rusted containers.
Bullets ricocheted off steel.
The stranger shouted,
"Find him!"
Flashlights cut through the darkness.
Andrew crawled across the wet concrete floor.
His heart pounded.
He had never been in a situation like this.
Not once.
Business negotiations hadn't prepared him for survival.
A side door suddenly burst open.
Marcus Steele entered first.
Two security officers followed.
Professional.
Precise.
Within seconds—
Three armed men were disarmed.
Another fled.
Victor shouted,
"Andrew!"
Andrew looked up.
Before he could respond—
One of the attackers raised his weapon.
Mariana saw it first.
"Andrew!"
Without thinking—
She ran.
She shoved Andrew sideways.
A gunshot echoed through the warehouse.
Mariana gasped.
Everything stopped.
Andrew caught her before she hit the ground.
His hands instantly became covered in blood.
"No..."
Mariana looked down.
The bullet had grazed her left shoulder.
Not fatal.
But enough to stain her white blouse crimson.
Andrew's voice broke.
"Mariana..."
She forced a weak smile.
"I'm fine."
"You've been shot."
"It's just a graze."
Marcus tackled the shooter before he could fire again.
Within moments...
The warehouse was under control.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
The attackers had either been captured...
Or escaped into the rain.
Andrew looked at Mariana.
His hands were shaking.
"You saved me."
She looked at him quietly.
"I couldn't let someone die."
"Even me?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Finally...
"I don't hate you, Andrew."
"I hate what you became."
Those words hurt more than any bullet could.
Victor searched the warehouse.
"Marcus."
"What?"
"I found something."
Hidden beneath a loose section of concrete flooring...
A metal lockbox.
Marcus forced it open.
Inside were dozens of old files.
A ledger.
Several passports.
And a sealed envelope.
Across the front, written in Richard Collins' handwriting, were six simple words.
ONLY FOR MARIANA ESCALANTE.
The room fell silent.
Andrew stared at the envelope.
"My father..."
"He left this for you?"
Mariana looked just as shocked.
Slowly...
She picked it up.
The seal had never been broken.
She hesitated.
Andrew whispered,
"Open it."
Mariana carefully unfolded the letter.
The first line made her blood run cold.
Mariana,
If you are reading this...
Then I have already been murdered.
The warehouse fell into complete silence.
Outside...
The rain continued to pour.
And somewhere in the darkness...
A pair of unseen eyes watched the entire scene through a sniper scope.
May you like
A gloved finger slowly tightened on the trigger.
End of Chapter 8
