Chapter 5 - Fire on the DocksThe rain at Pier 42 was freezing, coming down in sharp needles that cut through the darkness.
Inside the massive, hollow steel framework of the abandoned grain silo, Liam Foley stood surrounded by ten armored SUVs and twenty heavily armed mercenaries. A massive crane was hoisting crates of military rifles and explosives from a docked freighter.
"Get these trucks loaded!" Liam shouted, his voice echoing off the corrugated iron walls. "Once the shipments are out, we take the South Side!"
High above in the steel rafters, shadow fell over shadow as Declan and Norah moved into position.
"I have eyes on Liam," Norah whispered into her comm-link, adjusting her sniper scope from her vantage point on the catwalk. "Clear shot."
"No," Declan replied from the ground level, slipping silently between two stacks of shipping crates. "I want him to see me coming. I want him to know who took his empire back."
Declan stepped out into the floodlights.
The clatter of boots and heavy machinery came to a dead stop. Every guard turned, weapons raised instantly.
Liam froze, his face draining of all color as if he were staring at a ghost. "Declan...?"
"You missed a spot in the study, Liam," Declan said, his voice echoing through the massive silo like thunder. "You should have checked the pantry."
Liam’s shock turned into a hysterical, murderous sneer. "Kill him! Kill him now!"
The silo exploded into gunfire.
Declan rolled behind a heavy steel container as bullets tore through the metal. At the same moment, high above, Norah opened fire with terrifying precision. Each crack of her sniper rifle dropped a tactical guard before they could flank Declan’s position.
"Sniper in the rafters!" a guard yelled before Norah took him down.
Declan moved through the crossfire like a phantom born of the Chicago underworld. He advanced methodically, disarming guards, firing with lethal accuracy, and closing the gap toward Liam.
Liam panicked, grabbing a submachine gun and firing wildly as he backed toward the edge of the cargo pier. "You were supposed to be dead! You were supposed to die so I could take what's mine!"
Declan stepped through the smoke, completely untouched, his gun aimed directly at Liam's chest.
"You didn't take anything, Liam," Declan said coldly, kicking the submachine gun from Liam's hand and pinning him against the rusted railing above the icy river. "You threw away thirty years of brotherhood for money."
"Declan, please!" Liam begged, his arrogance collapsing into pathetic fear as he looked down at the churning, frozen water below. "We were brothers! Your father raised me!"
"My father raised a man," Declan whispered, his thumb pulling back the hammer of his gun. "He didn't raise a snake."
Before Declan could pull the trigger, sirens blared across the harbor. Dozens of federal task force vehicles and loyal Gallagher security trucks flooded the docks, cutting off every escape route.
Norah descended from the catwalk, stepping up beside Declan, her weapon lowered.
"Declan," she said softly, laying a warm hand on his arm. "Let the law take him. If you execute him here, you stay in the shadows forever. Let him rot in a federal cell knowing he lost everything."
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Declan looked at Liam's terrified face, then down at Norah's hand on his arm. Slowly, he lowered his weapon.
Federal agents rushed in, slamming Liam to the cold concrete and dragging him away in cuffs as he screamed curses into the rainy night.
