Chapter 94 - Blood Across the Pier
The boat violently lurched as it struck a derelict concrete pier near the mouth of the Delaware River shipping channel. The grinding impact sent both women tumbling across the slick composite deck.
The Apex Ledger slid across the bloody floor, teetering over the railing.
Bravo recovered instantly, springing forward with a combat knife drawn from her thigh sheath. The titanium blade flashed in the rain, slicing across Naomi’s shoulder and cutting clean through the gray fabric of her maid's blouse. Naomi ignored the searing burn of the cut, wrapping her left arm around Bravo’s striking wrist and executing a vicious joint lock.
The sound of popping ligaments echoed over the crashing waves.
Bravo gasped in pain, but her conditioning overrode the agony. Instead of retreating, she drove her forehead directly into Naomi’s nose, breaking the hold. Blood splattered between them as both women fell onto the rotting timber planks of the pier.
Rain hammered down around them in violent sheets.
Suddenly, high-intensity spotlights cut through the gloom from the shoreline. The roar of multiple high-displacement engines signaled the arrival of black tactical SUVs. Doors slammed, and laser sights began painting patterns across the wet timber.
"Apex tactical team?" Bravo sneered, clutching her dislocated wrist as she backed toward the ledger. "Or the remnants of your beloved Whitmores?"
From the lead SUV, a slender figure stepped into the glare of the headlamps, sheltered beneath an umbrella held by an armed operative.
It was Vanessa Sterling.
She was pale, wrapped in an expensive cashmere overcoat, her face taut with a mixture of terror and bitter fury. Behind her stood six heavily armed private contractors wearing the insignia of the Sterling family’s sovereign defense wing.
"Julian is dead in the mud, isn't he?" Vanessa's voice carried over the rain, shaking with controlled venom. "And both of you... monsters... are tearing apart what remains of my father’s empire."
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Nine-Bravo grabbed the Apex Ledger with her good hand and pulled a smoke grenade from her utility belt. "A domestic squabble among the masters. How pedestrian."
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