Chapter 10 - Breaking the Ice
“The lock!” Benny yelled, throwing his entire weight against the sliding door.
This time, the heavy metal door glided open with a screech of protesting steel, flooding the freezing vault with the damp, misty night air of the docks.
Carmine didn't waste a second. He grabbed Emmett Fontaine under the arms, hoisting the frail old man up from the concrete floor, while Benny caught his legs.
“Move, move, move!” Carmine ordered, carrying Emmett out into the open alleyway of Pier 42, followed closely by Nell, who stumbled out into the mist, gasping for warm air as her lungs burned.
They piled into the back seat of the black sedan still idling fifty yards away. Benny slammed the doors shut, threw the transmission into drive, and the sedan rocketed away from the terminal just as the silhouette of armed enforcers rounded the corner of Warehouse B, weapons drawn.
In the back seat, Nell cradled her father’s head in her lap, pressing her fingers against his neck.
“Papa? Papa, can you hear me?” she cried, tears spilling over her cheeks.
Emmett’s eyelids fluttered weakly. A shallow, rattling breath escaped his lips, followed by a faint, trembling nod. “...Nellie?”
Nell let out a broken, shuddering sob of pure relief, pressing her face against his cold shoulder.
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In the front seat, Carmine stared out the frosted windshield as the dark, industrial silhouette of the docks faded into the New Orleans mist. His hands were blistered and blackened from the electrical short, but his face remained a mask of cold, unyielding resolve.
The war with Victor Salvator had just begun. And Carmine Orsini was no longer playing defense.
