CHAPTER 6 — The Docks Were Already Burning
CHAPTER 6 — The Docks Were Already Burning
By the time Vincent, Elena, Aria, and Bruno reached the harbor, the sky had turned orange.
Solano Docks burned like the city had opened its mouth and swallowed fire.
Shipping containers glowed red in the rain.
Men ran in every direction.
Sirens wailed.
Helicopters cut circles above the water.
Vincent stood at the edge of the chaos beside Agent Naomi Cross, a woman with silver-streaked hair, tired eyes, and the calm posture of someone who had seen powerful men lie for a living.
She had arrived at the chapel with twelve agents and no patience.
Now she looked at Vincent like she still expected a knife in the dark.
“You understand,” Cross said, “cooperating tonight does not erase thirty years.”
Vincent watched the flames.
“I’m not asking it to.”
“Good.”
Elena stepped forward, holding the photo of her father.
“Rafael is here?”
Cross’s expression softened.
“We believe Solano moved him between safe locations. Halden protected him before he died. After that, Rafael went underground again.”
Elena’s voice cracked.
“You knew he was alive?”
Cross hesitated.
“I suspected. I didn’t know enough to risk exposing him.”
Elena looked ready to break.
Vincent spoke quietly.
“Where would Solano keep him?”
Cross turned to him.
“You know these docks.”
“I used to own half of them.”
“Then help us.”
Vincent looked across the burning maze of containers.
Solano was clever. He would expect agents at the exits, boats, and warehouses.
But if he had Rafael, he would not keep him near obvious escape routes.
He would keep him where the fire gave cover.
Vincent pointed to an old cold-storage building near Pier 9.
“There.”
Cross signaled her team.
Aria grabbed Vincent’s sleeve.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You don’t get to lock me away again.”
Vincent opened his mouth, then closed it.
She was right.
But he was still her father.
“Stay with Cross.”
“That’s not coming.”
“That’s surviving.”
Aria wanted to argue, but Elena touched her arm.
“He needs to know you’re safe.”
Aria looked at Elena, then nodded reluctantly.
Vincent and Bruno moved with the federal team toward Pier 9.
Elena followed.
Vincent glanced back.
“You should stay.”
“My father may be in there.”
He did not argue.
The closer they got, the hotter the air became.
Smoke rolled across the dock, thick and chemical.
An agent forced open a side door to the cold-storage building.
Inside, emergency lights flickered.
The place was full of hanging plastic sheets, broken crates, and the smell of frozen meat long since rotted away.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“Vincent Torino.”
Patrick Solano stepped into view holding a gun.
He was younger than Vincent by twenty years, handsome in the polished way of men who hired others to bleed for them.
Beside him stood Deputy Mayor Voss.
And between them, tied to a chair but alive, was Rafael Marquez.
Elena gasped.
“Papa.”
Rafael lifted his head.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Elena?”
Solano smiled.
“Touching.”
Vincent took one step forward.
Solano raised the gun to Rafael’s head.
“Don’t.”
Agents spread out behind Vincent.
Cross shouted, “Drop the weapon!”
Solano laughed.
“You brought the law, Vincent? You really did get old.”
Vincent’s eyes stayed on Rafael.
“I should have listened to you.”
Rafael’s voice was weak.
“Yes. You should have.”
There was no forgiveness in it.
Not yet.
Vincent accepted that.
Solano backed toward a rear door.
“Here’s how this works. I leave with Marquez. You all fight about jurisdiction. By morning, the files are gone and Marcus takes the fall.”
Voss panicked.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Solano shot him a look.
“The deal changed when the old man grew a conscience.”
Cross moved slightly.
Solano noticed.
“Agent, I swear—”
Before he finished, Bruno threw a metal hook across the floor.
It clanged behind Solano.
For half a second, everyone looked.
Elena moved.
She dove behind a crate and kicked the old freezer switch.
The building plunged into darkness.
Vincent heard Solano curse.
Then Rafael shouted, “Left!”
Vincent moved on instinct.
A gunshot cracked.
The bullet tore through his coat but missed flesh.
Agents rushed.
Bruno slammed into Solano like a truck, knocking the weapon away.
Cross tackled Voss.
Elena reached Rafael and cut his ties with shaking hands.
“Papa, Papa, look at me.”
Rafael touched her face.
“My little girl.”
Vincent stood over Solano, who groaned on the floor.
For one terrible second, the old Vincent wanted to end him.
No trial.
No speeches.
No mercy.
Just silence.
Solano saw it and smiled through blood.
“There he is.”
Vincent looked at Elena holding her father.
Then at Aria through the doorway, running toward them despite orders.
Then at Cross, weapon raised.
He stepped away.
“No,” Vincent said. “There he was.”
Cross cuffed Solano.
Outside, rain began putting out the fire.
Aria reached Vincent and threw her arms around him.
Rafael watched them, then looked at Vincent with tired, complicated eyes.
“You saved her,” Rafael said.
Vincent nodded toward Elena.
“She saved me first.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Cross’s radio crackled.
“Agent Cross, we have a problem. Marcus escaped custody during transport.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Of course.
The boy he raised had learned too well.
May you like
And somewhere in the burning city, Marcus Torino disappeared into the night with nothing left to lose.
