Chapter 29 - The Ambush in the Marsh
Gabriel didn't hesitate. With a feral roar, he hurled the heavy brass flashlight directly at Arthur Vance’s face. The heavy metal struck the old man’s shoulder, knocking him off balance.
Gabriel charged forward, tackling the first armed guard into the corrugated metal wall. The guard's gun fired wildly into the ceiling, the deafening *crack* echoing over the sound of thunder. Gabriel drove his elbow into the man’s throat, ripped the dossier from the table with his left hand, and burst out into the pouring rain.
"Shoot him!" Arthur screamed from inside the locker. "Don't let him reach the vehicle!"
Muzzle flashes illuminated the rotting pier. Bullets tore through the wooden decking around Gabriel’s feet, spraying splinters into his jeans. Adrenaline pumped through his veins with scorching intensity. He didn't feel the cold. He didn't feel the rain. He only saw the distant red taillights of his SUV idling near the marsh gate.
Another horn blast echoed—long, sustained, terrified.
Gabriel leaped off the end of the boardwalk, splashing through knee-deep mud and marsh grass. As he crested the gravel embankment, he saw the second black sedan parked perpendicular to his SUV, pinning it against the ditch. A man in a dark rain slicker was using a crowbar, smashing relentlessly against the driver’s side window of Gabriel's car.
Inside, Biscuit was throwing his eighty-pound body against the shattered glass, snarling with bared fangs, snapping at the crowbar. Amelia was huddled on the floorboard beneath the blanket, screaming Gabriel’s name.
"Get away from them!" Gabriel bellowed.
He didn't stop. He lowered his shoulder and hit the man with the crowbar at full sprint. The impact sent both men crashing down into the muddy drainage ditch. They rolled through freezing water, trading vicious blows. The attacker swung the crowbar, grazing Gabriel’s temple and blinding his left eye with warm, stinging blood.
Gabriel ignored the pain. The primal instinct of a father protecting his child took over. He grabbed a heavy fist-sized stone from the ditch bank and slammed it against the man's wrist. The crowbar flew into the murky water. Gabriel drove his fist into the attacker’s jaw once, twice, until the man went limp in the mud.
Panting, blood dripping from his brow, Gabriel scrambled out of the ditch and pulled open the rear door of the SUV.
Biscuit leaped out, licking Gabriel’s bloody hands, whining frantically.
"Amelia! Out, now!" Gabriel cried, scooping her up into his arms.
"Daddy! You're bleeding!" she sobbed, burying her face into his jacket.
"I'm fine, baby. We have to move!"
May you like
Behind them, the headlights of two more SUVs turned onto the marina road, their high beams piercing the driving storm like predatory eyes. The exit was blocked. There was only one way out: on foot, through the treacherous salt marshes toward the old railway bridge.
***
