Chapter 14 - The Crossfire
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The roar of automatic gunfire shattered the quiet night. Muzzle flashes lit up the dark shipping yard like strobe lights, illuminating the freezing rain.
“Ava, get down!” Luca screamed over the deafening noise.
He didn't return fire immediately. He sprinted directly through the open crossfire, ignoring the bullets sparking against the concrete and the cargo containers around him. He tackled me around the waist, throwing us both violently behind the cover of a massive, solid steel shipping crate.
I hit the wet pavement hard, my breath leaving my lungs in a sharp rush. Luca instantly covered my body with his own, shielding me with his Kevlar-clad back as bullets tore into the metal container just inches above our heads.
“Are you hit?!” he yelled, grabbing my face, his dark eyes wide with frantic terror.
“No! I’m okay!” I gasped, clinging to the lapels of his trench coat.
“Stay down! Do not move!” Luca ordered, his expression hardening back into the ruthless mafia boss.
He rolled off me, popping around the edge of the container, and opened fire with lethal precision.
The warzone was absolute chaos. Dante and Luca’s men emerged from the shadows, returning fire with overwhelming force. The sound of sniper rifles cracked from the crane towers above, picking off the Russian mercenaries who had tried to ambush them.
Jake was caught entirely in the middle.
Through the chaos, I peeked around the corner of the crate. Jake was screaming, crawling on his hands and knees through the puddles, desperately trying to scramble away from the shootout. He wasn't firing his gun. He was abandoning the Russians who had backed him, trying to save his own miserable life.
“He’s getting away!” I yelled to Luca over the gunfire, pointing toward the gap between the SUVs.
Luca glanced over, his jaw clenching. He tapped his earpiece.
“Dante,” Luca barked into the comms. “Cut off the rat. Do not let Martinez reach the main gate.”
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The firefight was aggressively one-sided. Luca’s syndicate was highly trained and heavily armed, vastly outmatching the Russian scouts. Within three minutes, the gunfire began to sputter and die down as the remaining mercenaries surrendered or fell.
But Jake was already sprinting toward the chain-link fence at the edge of the yard.
