Chapter 8 - THE BREACH
Elias sloshed through the rising water, his eyes tracking the heavy yellow crane control box mounted on the wall. "I've hotwired older and uglier things than that!" he yelled back.
The water was at their chests now. The cold was paralyzing. The panicked cries of the trapped prisoners echoed off the steel ceiling as they clung to the highest scaffolding.
"Get Leo up high!" Mara shouted to Ward.
Ward gritted his teeth, hoisted his son onto his good shoulder, and painfully climbed the metal stairs toward the upper catwalk.
Mara waded fiercely toward Elias. The old fisherman had ripped the metal casing off the control box and was frantically twisting colored wires together. Sparks showered over the dark water.
"What's the play, kid?" Elias grunted.
"That shipping container!" Mara pointed to the massive, ten-ton steel box suspended twenty feet in the air. "Swing it toward the starboard hull. If we use it as a battering ram, we can punch a hole right through the rusted outer plating. It’ll drain the water and give everyone an exit onto the docks!"
Elias grinned. "You're crazy. I like it."
He twisted two heavy red cables together. The crane’s massive electric motors groaned to life, a deep, vibrating hum that shook the catwalks.
"Look out!" Elias yelled.
He wrenched the rusted joystick forward.
The ten-ton shipping container swung in a massive, terrifying arc. It cut through the air and slammed into the starboard hull with the force of an earthquake.
BOOM.
The entire ship violently shuddered. Dust and rust rained down from the ceiling, but the hull held.
"Again!" Mara screamed.
Elias pulled the container back and sent it flying forward a second time.
CRASH.
This time, the sound of tearing metal shrieked through the hold. A massive crack spider-webbed across the steel plating. Daylight from the docks outside began to bleed through the fracture.
Down in the water, Graves was clinging to a railing, his shattered leg useless. He pulled a spare radio from his belt. "All units," he screamed into it. "Breach in the lower hold. Shoot anyone who comes out. Leave no witnesses."
Mara saw him. The fury she had buried beneath her fear finally erupted.
She dove into the water, swimming with powerful, furious strokes until she reached the platform. She surged upward, grabbing Graves by the collar of his expensive suit.
Before he could raise his gun, Mara slammed her elbow squarely into his jaw. Graves’s head snapped back, his radio flying into the dark water.
"It's over," Mara hissed.
Above them, Elias swung the container one final time.
With a deafening roar, the starboard hull gave way. A massive, jagged hole tore open, exposing the floodlights of the Los Arcos docks. The pent-up harbor water violently rushed out through the breach, carrying debris and crates with it.
The water level in the hold dropped instantly, stabilizing at waist height.
"Go! Go!" Mara yelled to the terrified prisoners.
People began pouring out through the jagged breach, escaping onto the concrete docks where the water spilled harmlessly away.
Suddenly, the piercing wail of police sirens cut through the night air. Red and blue lights flooded the warehouse exterior. Dozens of heavily armed Coast Guard tactical units swarmed the docks.
Graves’s mercenaries dropped their weapons instantly, throwing their hands in the air.
Mara waded out of the water, dragging a semi-conscious Graves behind her. She dumped him unceremoniously onto the steel deck just as a squad of Coast Guard officers rushed in, rifles raised.
"Drop it!" an officer yelled, aiming at Ward, who was stumbling down the stairs with Leo.
"Wait!" Mara stepped in front of the captain, her hands high. "He's the victim here. This man," she pointed down at Graves, "is the architect of all this. Human trafficking. Murder. Extortion."
Graves spat blood onto the deck, a smug, desperate smile forming. "She's lying. I'm a corporate inspector. They hijacked this vessel. Where is your proof?"
Mara reached into her pocket. Her fingers found the cold silver metal.
May you like
She pulled out Leo's locket, popped it open, and peeled the wax drawing back. "The ledgers," she said softly. "The bank accounts, the routing numbers, the coordinates. You thought Captain Ward hid it. But I found it."
Graves’s face finally went completely, utterly pale.
