chapter 14:The General's Target

MARA’S POV

The eastern port was burning when we arrived.

Orange flames climbed the side of a warehouse, and smoke rolled across the waterfront. Gunfire echoed between the shipping containers.

I crouched behind a concrete barrier as bullets struck the metal railing above my head.

“Two men on the roof!” Victor shouted through the radio.

“I see them.”

I fired twice.

One man dropped behind the roofline. The other disappeared into the smoke.

“Move!”

My team surged forward.

We crossed the loading yard under covering fire, taking shelter behind a row of containers. I signalled for two men to circle around the warehouse while Victor led the others toward the control room.

Then I noticed something strange.

The port's security gates were open.

Not damaged.

Not forced.

Open.

Someone had given Rafael access.

Again.

“Victor,” I said into the radio, “check the gate logs. I want every entry from the last six hours.”

“Understood.”

A shadow moved between two containers ahead.

I raised my weapon.

“Stop!”

The man ran.

I pursued him through the narrow passage, boots pounding against the wet concrete. He reached the corner and turned, raising his gun.

I struck his wrist before he could fire, drove my elbow into his throat, and slammed him against the container.

His weapon clattered to the ground.

“Who opened the gates?” I demanded.

He spat blood at my boots.

I tightened my grip on his collar.

“Wrong answer.”

A burst of gunfire erupted behind us.

The man suddenly smiled.

I felt the cold warning in my stomach a second too late.

A loud explosion rocked the port.

The lights went out.

For one terrifying moment, everything disappeared into darkness.

Then my radio crackled.

“Mara!” Victor shouted. “We've lost the eastern entrance! They're coming from inside the port!”

I released the prisoner and reached for my flashlight.

Across the yard, headlights appeared through the smoke.

Three black vehicles raced toward the warehouse.

The first rammed through the security barrier.

Armed men poured out before the vehicle had fully stopped.

I raised my weapon.

Then I saw the man stepping from the second vehicle.

Tall. Immaculately dressed. His face familiar from the photographs Dante had shown me.

Rafael Voss.

He looked directly toward my position, as though he had known exactly where I would be standing.

Then he lifted a phone to his ear.

Mine vibrated a second later.

An unknown number.

I answered without lowering my weapon.

Rafael's voice came through, smooth and amused.

“Good evening, General.”

I kept my eyes on him.

“Enjoying your little invasion?”

“Immensely. Although I must admit, your husband has better taste in women than I expected.”

“Keep talking. It gives my men time to surround you.”

He laughed.

“Your men?”

He glanced toward the warehouse.

Behind me, an explosion sent flames bursting through the roof.

My radio filled with desperate voices.

Then Victor shouted a sentence that turned my blood cold.

“Mara, get out! The warehouse is rigged!”

I stared at Rafael.

He smiled wider.

“You see, General, the port was never my real target.”

My grip tightened around the phone.

“What did you do?”

“Ask your husband.”

The call ended.

A second later, my phone received a photograph.

Dante stood in the hospital corridor, surrounded by armed men.

Behind him was a familiar figure holding a gun to the back of his head.

Vivienne.

And beneath the photograph was a single message.

Come alone, Mara. Or Dante dies next.

I stared at the screen as the port burned around me.

Rafael had forced me to choose between the man I loved and the empire I had sworn to protect.

He had forgotten one thing.

I had never been good at following orders.

I raised my radio.

“Victor, take command. Get everyone out of the warehouse.”

“Mara, where are you going?”

I looked toward Rafael's retreating vehicles.

“To end this.”

I loaded a fresh magazine and stepped into the smoke.

But before I could reach the exit, a burst of gunfire erupted behind me.

I spun around.

One of my men fell to the ground.

Another shouted, “Ambush!”

Armed figures emerged from the shadows, cutting off the road to our vehicles.

Rafael hadn't simply attacked the port.

He had prepared for my escape.

I ducked behind a container as bullets tore through the metal above me. My radio crackled with Victor's voice.

“General, we're pinned down! We need reinforcements!”

“Hold your position. Don't let them reach the road.”

“Mara, there are too many of them!”

“Then stop counting and start shooting!”

I leaned out, fired at the nearest attackers, and sprinted toward a forklift. A man rushed me from the side. I twisted away from his blade, drove my knee into his stomach, and disarmed him before he could recover.

He hit the ground hard.

I took his radio.

“Rafael!” I shouted into it. “You want me? Come and get me yourself!”

Static answered.

Then his voice returned, amused and calm.

“You really do believe you're invincible.”

“No. I just know you're afraid to face me without hiding behind other people.”

For the first time, the silence on the line lasted a little longer.

Then Rafael said, “Check your phone, General.”

I pulled it out.

Another message.

This time, it contained a live video.

Dante was on his knees in the hospital corridor. Blood stained his shirt, and two armed men held him down.

Vivienne stood beside him, a gun pressed against his temple.

Dante lifted his head.

Even through the screen, I could see the fury in his eyes.

“Mara,” he said, his voice strained. “Don't come here.”

Vivienne struck him across the face with the weapon.

My blood turned to ice.

“Tell her to behave,” Vivienne said.

Dante spat blood onto the floor.

“Go to hell.”

She pressed the gun harder against his head.

I gripped the phone until my fingers hurt.

“Vivienne!” I shouted.

She looked into the camera.

“Oh, Mara. You should have stayed out of family business.”

“You kidnapped children. You stole their money. You helped Rafael attack your own brother. Don't you dare call this family business.”

Her smile vanished.

“You have no idea what I've sacrificed for this family.”

“You sacrificed nothing. You took what belonged to two little girls and handed it to a man who would gladly bury you when you became useless.”

For one moment, something ugly flashed across her face.

Then she recovered.

“You have ten minutes to reach the old hospital entrance. Come alone.”

“And if I refuse?”

She tilted her head toward Dante.

“You'll find out how much your husband loves you.”

The video ended.

I stood motionless for a heartbeat.

The gunfire around me faded into a distant roar. My mind was already working through routes, distances, the remaining men under my command, and the security arrangements at the hospital.

Rafael wanted me desperate.

Vivienne wanted me frightened.

Neither understood what they had just done.

They had given me a target.

I pressed the radio to my mouth.

“Victor, listen carefully. Get our wounded out and secure the port. Do not pursue Rafael. That's an order.”

“And you?”

“I'm going to retrieve my husband.”

“General, you can't go alone!”

I looked at the photograph of Dante still glowing on my phone.

“I won't be alone.”

I checked my pistol, secured the spare magazine at my waist, and started toward the nearest vehicle.

Because Vivienne had made one mistake.

She had assumed that loving Dante made me weak.

She was about to discover that love had only given me another reason to fight.

And if she hurt him, I would make sure the entire Blackwood family remembered what happened when they threatened a general's husband.