Chapter 8 - PIER ELEVEN
At 5:57 a.m., Pier Eleven looked abandoned.
It wasn't.
Three cargo trucks waited beneath the cranes.
A freighter sat against the dock.
Marco had contacted his task force.
Lucian had contacted his own men.
For perhaps the first time in New York history, federal agents and Marchetti soldiers stood behind the same warehouse pretending not to notice each other.
Talia looked at Marco.
“How long have you been undercover?”
“Twelve years.”
Lucian gave him a cold look.
“You're fired.”
Marco nodded.
“Fair.”
“After this.”
“Also fair.”
Talia almost laughed.
Then gunfire erupted.
Orlov had discovered her deception.
Men poured from the warehouse.
Agents moved.
Lucian pushed Talia behind a vehicle.
“You stay here.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Try not to get murdered.”
His eyes held hers.
“That's become surprisingly difficult since meeting you.”
Then he ran.
Talia remained behind the truck.
For approximately forty seconds.
Then she heard Russian over a stolen radio.
“Move the second truck to the east gate.”
She looked toward the east gate.
Federal agents were positioned there.
The truck wasn't escaping.
It was going to ram them.
Talia grabbed Marco's spare radio.
“East team, move!”
Static.
Wrong channel.
She changed frequencies.
Nothing.
The truck engine roared.
Talia ran.
She climbed onto a loading platform and shouted in Russian toward the driver.
“Orlov changed the route! West gate!”
The driver hesitated.
She repeated it in his dialect.
He turned the wheel.
The truck veered west—directly into the empty container corridor.
Agents surrounded it.
Talia exhaled.
“Empty-headed waitress,” she muttered.
Behind her, someone applauded.
Orlov.
He held a gun.
“You've become exhausting.”
Talia slowly raised her hands.
“People say that.”
“Walk.”
He forced her toward the pier.
Lucian saw them.
He stopped.
Orlov pressed the weapon against Talia.
“Drop it.”
Lucian dropped his gun.
“Let her go.”
Orlov laughed.
“The great Lucian Marchetti.”
His eyes moved between them.
“All this for a waitress?”
Lucian's gaze stayed on Talia.
“No.”
Orlov smiled.
“No?”
Lucian took one slow step.
“All this for the woman who saved my life when she had every reason not to.”
Talia forgot the gun for half a heartbeat.
Orlov did not.
He dragged her backward.
Nico appeared behind a shipping container.
Talia saw him.
Orlov didn't.
Lucian did.
He kept talking.
“You wanted my docks.”
“Yes.”
“My organization.”
“Yes.”
“You can have it.”
Talia stared at him.
Orlov did too.
Lucian continued.
“The illegal routes. The protection network. Every dirty dollar.”
Orlov narrowed his eyes.
“In exchange?”
“Her.”
“Lucian,” Talia whispered.
He ignored her.
Orlov laughed.
“You'd surrender your father's empire for this woman?”
“My father wanted me to destroy that empire.”
Silence.
“And after today, I intend to.”
Orlov's expression twisted.
“You weak fool.”
Nico moved.
Orlov heard him.
He turned and fired.
Nico staggered.
Lucian lunged.
Talia dropped.
The gun skidded across concrete.
Lucian hit Orlov.
Agents rushed forward.
Marco kicked the weapon away.
Nico collapsed.
Lucian forgot Orlov instantly.
He ran to his brother.
“Nico.”
Blood spread across Nico's shirt.
Lucian pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Nico looked at him.
“I killed Dad.”
Lucian froze.
Talia closed her eyes.
Nico coughed.
“It was an accident.”
Lucian's hands remained pressed to the wound.
“I wanted to scare him.”
“Nico—”
“Mom covered it up.”
“Stop talking.”
“I spent eleven years blaming everybody else.”
“Nico.”
“I'm sorry.”
Lucian's face broke.
Not dramatically.
Something quieter.
Worse.
He kept pressure on the wound.
“You don't get to apologize and die.”
Nico almost smiled.
“Still bossy.”
“Ambulance!”
Paramedics ran toward them.
Talia stepped back.
Orlov lay handcuffed nearby.
Marco approached her.
“We got the ledger.”
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“And the shipment?”
“Enough evidence to put Orlov away until the sun burns out.”
Talia looked at Lucian.
He was climbing into the ambulance beside his brother.
Before the doors closed, he looked at her.
Their eyes met.
He held out his hand.
No command.
No arrogance.
An invitation.
Talia climbed in.
At the hospital, surgeons took Nico away.
Lucian sat in the corridor with blood on his shirt.
Talia sat beside him.
For an hour they said nothing.
Finally Lucian whispered, “He killed my father.”
“Yes.”
“I should hate him.”
“You probably do.”
“He's my brother.”
“Yes.”
“I want him to live.”
“I know.”
Lucian looked at her.
“How do you always know what to say?”
“I don't.”
“You speak seven languages.”
“That doesn't make people easier.”
His hand rested on the bench between them.
Talia placed hers over it.
Lucian turned his palm upward and threaded their fingers together.
At 9:14, a surgeon appeared.
“Nico survived the operation.”
Lucian closed his eyes.
Talia squeezed his hand.
The surgeon continued.
“But there's something else you need to know.”
Lucian stood.
“What?”
“Your brother asked us to contact federal authorities.”
Marco approached from the other end of the corridor.
May you like
The surgeon looked between them.
“He says he wants to confess to everything.”
