Chapter 62 - The Cold Snap
The sound of that distant gunshot over the satellite receiver stripped away every ounce of civilized restraint I had ever possessed. The world slowed into a horrifying, crystal-clear freeze frame: the smell of ozone and burnt gunpowder, the stinging spray of seawater leaping from the dark abyss beneath the grate, and Julian Castille’s bloodied face twisted into a grotesque, triumphant sneer.
"You're too late, Brian," Julian gasped, his fingers digging into my windpipe, trying to force my shoulders over the rusted railing. "You built a glass fortress, but you forgot that glass shatters."
A primal roar ripped from my chest. I didn't reach for my sidearm; I reached for him. Driving my forehead straight into the bridge of his aristocratic nose, I felt the bone give way with a sickening crunch. Julian shrieked, his grip instantly loosening as crimson geysered across his lips. Before he could recover, I drove my knee upward into his diaphragm, spinning him hard against the corrugated stanchion.
The titanium ledger plate slid across the slick metal grating, clinking against the edge, millimeters from plummeting fifty feet into the churning dark water below. I kicked Julian’s legs out from under him, stomping down onto his right wrist until he howled and let go of his backup blade. With a single fluid motion, I scooped the titanium plate with my left hand and jammed my sidearm beneath his chin.
"Miller!" I bellowed over the deafening din of tactical strobe lights and automatic rifle fire as the remnants of Julian’s extraction squad were pinned against the dry dock walls. "Miller, call the chopper! Now!"
Miller emerged from the smoke, his rifle lowered to the low-ready, his eyes wide as he saw the murderous frenzy in my expression. "Sir, harbor is secured. Sterling is confirmed dead. Julian's crew is down."
"The house," I choked out, my voice raw, the dead silence on the open line buzzing in my ear like toxic venom. "They hit the estate. Emily... Leo. I need the bird in the air in thirty seconds or I start killing pilots."
Julian wheezed beneath my boot, his shattered face twitching into a hideous grin through the pooling blood. "You won't make it... they had orders... the moment the diversion at the docks started..."
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I didn't let him finish. I brought the butt of my pistol down across his temple, knocking him into cold unconsciousness. I tossed the sat-phone to Miller. "Call the perimeter team at the house. If nobody answers, prep the rapid-response medical unit. We're going home."
Within forty seconds, the deafening thrum of twin turbine rotors shook the harbor air as the black MH-60 swept over the pier, its searchlight illuminating the black swells of the bay. I leaped into the open cabin before the skids even touched down, clutching the titanium plate that had cost so much blood, my soul paralyzed by the single gunshot that still echoed through my skull.
