CHAPTER 5 – BLACK HARBOR
CHAPTER 5 – BLACK HARBOR
The storm arrived just after sunset.
Towering waves battered the cliffs surrounding Black Harbor Island, turning the sea into a churning graveyard of white foam and jagged rocks.
No government maps listed the island anymore.
Officially, it had been abandoned twenty years earlier.
Unofficially...
It had become Matteo Castano's most secure prison.
No one entered.
No one escaped.
Fifteen miles offshore...
Three black speedboats sliced silently through the darkness.
Every engine had been modified to run almost soundlessly.
Vincent Romano stood at the bow of the lead boat.
Rain soaked his black coat, but he never blinked.
Beside him stood Tony.
Behind them...
Twenty of Romano's most trusted soldiers checked weapons in complete silence.
Tony unfolded a satellite map.
"There are only two entrances."
"The main dock..."
"And an underwater maintenance tunnel."
Vincent studied the blueprint.
"They'll expect us at the dock."
Tony nodded.
"They'll have machine guns covering every angle."
Vincent smiled slightly.
"So we won't use the dock."
Inside Black Harbor...
Maria Elena Vasquez sat chained to the concrete wall.
Twenty-one days.
Twenty-one nights.
No sunlight.
No freedom.
Only questions.
Matteo entered her cell carrying a cup of coffee.
"You still refuse to tell me where Romano hid the ledger?"
Elena looked at him without fear.
"I don't know."
Matteo sighed.
"I've asked nicely."
He crouched beside her.
"Let's try another question."
He placed a photograph on the floor.
It showed Isabella walking beside Vincent inside the Romano mansion.
Elena's entire body froze.
"My daughter..."
Matteo smiled.
"Safe."
"For now."
A tear rolled down Elena's face.
"You found her."
"No."
"She found him."
Matteo leaned closer.
"Your daughter walked right into the wolf's den."
Elena closed her eyes.
Then...
She smiled.
That confused Matteo.
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because now..."
She whispered.
"...you're the one in danger."
Matteo laughed loudly.
"Vincent?"
"He can't reach this island."
"No one can."
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The entire prison shook.
Concrete dust rained from the ceiling.
The alarms screamed throughout the fortress.
Matteo looked toward the door.
Another explosion.
Then another.
One of his guards burst inside.
"Boss!"
"The underwater tunnel!"
"They came through the underwater tunnel!"
Matteo's face darkened.
"Impossible."
"There are steel blast doors."
The guard swallowed.
"They... blew them open."
Matteo slowly smiled.
"So..."
"The Wolf finally came."
Forty feet beneath the prison...
Vincent emerged from the flooded maintenance tunnel.
Water streamed from his tactical gear.
Every Romano soldier carried suppressed weapons.
No one spoke.
Vincent raised two fingers.
Split formation.
Within seconds...
His men disappeared into separate corridors.
The first Castano patrol rounded the corner.
Four guards.
They never fired a shot.
Silent takedowns.
Bodies lowered carefully to the floor.
Tony whispered,
"We're inside."
Vincent nodded.
"Find Elena."
"I'll find Matteo."
Across the prison...
A frightened guard rushed toward the control room.
He never saw Isabella.
Hidden inside a ventilation shaft above him.
Tony had tried to stop her from coming.
She had snuck aboard the boat anyway.
"I couldn't leave Papa alone," she had insisted.
Now...
She watched the guard enter the security office.
Computer monitors covered every wall.
One screen displayed Cell 17.
A woman chained inside.
Mama.
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
"I found you..."
She memorized the location before crawling deeper into the ventilation system.
She never noticed...
Someone was watching.
A pair of cold blue eyes.
Matteo's chief assassin.
Silas Kane.
May you like
He smiled.
"The little bird..."
