Chapter 4 - Blood on the Docks
The attack on the apartment made one thing abundantly clear: they couldn't stay in the slums.
By mid-afternoon, Sean’s top lieutenant, a stoic woman named Nina with a scarred neck and eyes like polished flint, arrived in an armored SUV to evacuate them. The apartment was compromised, and Victor Rossi—the head of the rival Colombian syndicate—was openly moving men through the city.
"Sean set you up in a safe house near the harbor," Nina said as she drove through the pouring rain, her eyes darting constantly to the rearview mirror. "It used to be an old fish processing plant. Reinforced concrete, double-steel doors, one entrance in and out. Rossi’s men won't be able to breach it easily."
In the backseat, Carrie sat beside Raleigh, gently rubbing aloe vera onto the minor burns on his flank from the stun baton. The dog rested his massive head in her lap, completely submissive to her touch, though his eyes never left Nina's hands on the steering wheel.
"Why is Sean helping us?" Marcus asked, his voice shaking. He was clutching the briefcase of money between his boots like a lifeline. "He’s a mob boss. He doesn't do charity."
"Sean doesn't care about the money," Nina said coldly. "He cares about leverage. Victor Rossi was Sean’s business partner five years ago until Rossi tried to blow up Sean’s car with his wife inside. Sean survived; his wife didn't. Since then, Rossi built his reputation on terror—and Raleigh was his mascot. Rossi used that dog to execute men who broke code."
Carrie’s hands paused on Raleigh’s fur. "He made Raleigh eat human flesh?"
"He tried to," Nina replied. "That’s why the dog broke. Raleigh refused to do it. He’d starve himself for weeks rather than kill on command for Rossi. So Rossi beat him, scarred him, and sold him to Sean as an insult—a dog that was too broken to even be useful as a killer."
Carrie felt a tear spill down her cheek, landing softly on Raleigh’s black nose. The dog let out a small, comforting whine, licking her hand.
"And now," Nina continued, turning the SUV into a dark, industrial alley lined with rusty shipping containers, "Rossi hears that the dog he couldn't break is obeying a child. It ruins his myth. It proves he’s weak. He can't let you live, Carrie."
The SUV pulled into the vast, cavernous interior of the abandoned fish plant. The air smelled of salt, rust, and rot. The high ceilings echoed with the sound of rain hammering on the metal roof.
Sean was waiting for them near a makeshift command center set up on folding tables, surrounded by six heavily armed guards.
"Glad to see you survived the morning," Sean said, walking over as they stepped out of the vehicle. He looked down at Raleigh, who gave a quiet, warning huff but didn't move away from Carrie. "Rossi’s getting desperate. He’s putting a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on your brother’s head and double that for the dog."
"And what about Carrie?" Marcus asked angrily.
Sean’s eyes darkened. "Rossi wants her brought to him alive. He wants to know what trick she used."
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"It's not a trick!" Carrie shouted, her voice bouncing off the concrete walls. "It's listening! None of you ever listened to him!"
Before Sean could reply, the heavy metal doors of the fish plant were slammed shut from the outside. The power grid suddenly cut out, plunging the vast warehouse into absolute, pitch-black darkness.
