Chapter 7 - THE RIVER TERMINAL
Police were called before Lorenzo left the estate.
He wanted Sophia to remain behind with Lily.
Sophia refused.
“They took Mrs. Carter because of my daughter.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“This could be dangerous.”
“So was your kitchen ten minutes before you came home.”
He had no answer to that.
Lorenzo ordered his head of security, Daniel Cruz, to protect both girls inside the main house.
Then he and Sophia drove toward Moretti River Terminal.
The terminal stretched along the Cumberland River beneath rows of white floodlights.
Hundreds of shipping containers formed narrow steel corridors.
Lorenzo used the access token to enter Gate Four.
The security booth was empty.
“That’s impossible.”
He pointed toward the monitor.
“This gate is staffed twenty-four hours.”
Sophia noticed a coffee cup still steaming beside the keyboard.
“Someone left recently.”
They moved deeper into the terminal.
A ship horn sounded in the distance.
Then Sophia heard something.
A muffled cry.
She stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
They followed the sound between rows of containers.
Lorenzo found a container marked MLU 941207.
The electronic seal was active.
Sophia used the black token.
The lock released.
Lorenzo opened the door.
Mrs. Carter was inside.
Her hands had been tied.
Tape covered her mouth.
Sophia rushed toward her.
Mrs. Carter was frightened but conscious.
Lorenzo removed the tape.
“Where’s Victor?”
Mrs. Carter gasped.
“He left.”
“Where?”
“He kept talking about Pier Nine.”
Lorenzo froze.
Pier Nine belonged to a shipping company called Atlantic Meridian.
Moretti International had no scheduled operations there.
Sophia untied Mrs. Carter.
Then headlights appeared between the containers.
A black SUV accelerated toward them.
Lorenzo pulled Sophia aside.
The vehicle stopped twenty feet away.
Victor stepped out.
He held a pistol.
“You should have stayed home.”
Lorenzo moved in front of Sophia.
“You’re finished.”
Victor laughed.
“You still think this is Valentina’s operation?”
He raised the gun.
“Valentina is an employee.”
Sophia’s eyes widened.
“Of who?”
Victor smiled.
“You’ll meet him soon.”
A siren sounded at the entrance.
Victor glanced toward it.
That second was enough.
Lorenzo tackled him.
The gun slid beneath a truck.
Sophia kicked it farther away.
Victor broke free and ran between the containers.
Police vehicles entered the terminal.
Officers spread out.
But by the time they reached Pier Nine, Victor had disappeared.
On the pavement, Sophia found something he had dropped.
A photograph.
It showed Valentina standing beside an older man.
Lorenzo took one look and went pale.
Sophia noticed.
“You know him.”
May you like
Lorenzo nodded.
“That’s my uncle.”
