Lance made sure to drive his car very slowly and very carefully as he approached the docks. A single bump or sharp turn could see his entire plan go up in smoke.
The shipping docks were where the Marino family conducted the majority of their operations. Everyone knew this, even the cops. But the cops were so deep in the Marino family's pockets that they simply let it slide. Because of their over-confidence, Lance was hoping that Carmine wouldn’t see it coming.
As Lance approached the docks, he aimed the car for the massive fishing trawler at the end of Pier 11. To simply call it a fishing trawler, would be to underplay both its size and lavishness. Once, many years ago, it may have been used as the name suggested. But now it had been converted to a kind of club house of sorts. It sat at over four hundred feet in length, and was three stories high. The entire hull had been renovated and added on to, so that the trawler was all but attached to the pier – encircled by the dock with warehouses built up and onto the side of the hull.
At the side of the trawler, was a large ramp for trucks to come and go. These trucks carried precious, often illegal cargo that needed to be stored inside the hull.
Lance drove the car up the pier, making sure to keep it nice and steady. Every time the car hit a loose plank of wood, he grimaced, sure that this would be it. But eventually he made it to the end, pulling the car up in front of the large shipping vessel.
There were five men standing by the ramp, all heavily armed and all clearly expecting him. "Where do you want me?" Lance called out as he wound the window down.
"Pull right up the ramp and into the hull. Stop when you see Luigi," the closest henchman said back. He smirked, letting Lance know that no one expected him to be leaving this reinforced tomb alive.
They all stepped to the side and allowed Lance to pull the car up the ramp and park it directly in the belly of the large ship. Luigi was a big bear of man, and another one of Carmine’s delinquent nephews.
Surrounding him were a dozen more armed guards and they surrounded the car as Lance slowly pulled in. Their fingers were resting on the triggers, the barrels were pointed. One wrong move would see Lance filled with hot metal. As Lance climbed from the front seat, he heard the distinct sound of guns cocking. He held his arms up in surrender. As he did, he checked his watch. Right on time.
--
The bridge of the ship had been converted into what was now Carmine's office. Located on the top deck of the ship, it was built on a perch, designed to look over the entire deck of the ship – from bow to stern. It was built with bulletproof glass for windows, and it had a 360 degree view of its surroundings.
As Lance approached, he could clearly see inside. Where there would have once been a dashboard for navigational purposes, there was now an expensive leather living room set. The decorating was plush and sophisticated, with teak finishes and luxurious furnishings.
Lance saw Sarah the moment he stepped into the room. She was untied, and seated on the lounge at the back of the room. To his relief she looked unharmed, but she was obviously terrified, curled into a ball, with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She wore only the bathrobe that had been lying over the chair in her room. Since he was sure that Carmine’s men wouldn’t have let her dress before abducting her, it told Lance that she had left her bedroom on her own – which he had expressly told her NOT to do. If they got out of this alive, he was definitely going to have to punish her. For a long time. Over and over again.
Seated at the table were four men, all with automatic machine guns, and Carmine. Carmine was a force unto himself and dominated the room, despite being unarmed. He was a big man, over six feet tall. And although he was overweight, he wouldn't be described as fat. He was more like a bull, with broad shoulders, strong limbs and a head that looked like it could smash through concrete walls.
"There he is," Carmine cooed as Lance was led inside. To Lance's relief, the men hadn't even bothered tying his hands. They had patted him down to ensure that he was unarmed and thus deemed him to not be a threat. "We wondered if you would show."
"You honestly thought I wouldn't?" Lance asked. He didn't look at Carmine as he spoke, but at Sarah. She looked terrified as she watched from the couch. To her it would have seemed like Lance had lost and this was all but over.
Carmine, seeing Lance's eyes, looked back at Sarah and smiled. "Ah yes. There isn't much a man won't do for a beautiful woman." Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet. It was an effort and he let off a grunt as he did. "And she is beautiful. We considered seeing what was under that robe of hers, but thought it best to wait for you."
He strolled casually toward Lance. When he reached him, Carmine lifted his hand and placed it on the back on Lance's neck. Lance knew what was coming and braced himself as Carmine drove a fist into his stomach. The force was terrific, dropping Lance to his knees.
"You arrogant fuck," Carmine said. "Did you really think you could get away with killing my nephew?" He booted Lance in the ribs, sending him onto his back.
"Vincent went after Spence, Carmine. You should have taught him to be smarter," Lance gritted out while gripping his ribs.
Carmine chuckled. "My only regret is he won't be here to see you die. But I'll just have to make my peace with that."
"And Sarah?" Lance asked as he pushed himself to his knees, spitting out more blood. "You're going to let her go?"
"Of course not," Carmine said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "What I am going to do though, is make you watch. First, I'm going to fuck her. Then Tony will. Then Chris. Then Paulie. And then probably me again. Then you'll get a bullet in the head. And then I'll fuck her again. And then she can have a bullet too." He drove his knee into Lance's face, sending him onto his back again. "Basically, we have a very big night ahead of us."
On the ground now, blood spilling from his mouth and nose, Lance began to laugh. It was a maniacal laugh, one that suggested the early onset of insanity. He laughed and laughed, rolling on the ground as he did. He laughed so hard that soon the other men in the room were joining in. Even Carmine chuckled a little as he looked from the bloody body of Lance to the shaking one of Sarah.
Finally, and with no effort at all, Lance stopped laughing. He pushed himself to his knees again and looked Carmine directly in the eyes. He didn't blink, not once. "Do you have the time?"
"What?" Carmine asked, confused both by Lance’s behavior, and question in general.
"Never mind," Lance smirked. Time to end this. "I know exactly what time it is."
As he spoke, the floor beneath him began to rumble.
"What the fu --"
An explosion suddenly erupted from beneath the office. It was strong enough that the floor shook. This was followed by another and another. With each explosion, a seismic shake followed. First it was just the floor, vibrating. Then it was the walls. Soon the entire ship seemed to rock back and forth.
Carmine stumbled backwards from the force, trying but failing to balance himself. The henchmen too. Standing behind Lance, they lost their footing as easily as their boss did. And then Lance acted.
He pushed himself to his feet, throwing his entire body into that of Carmine's. As he did, the ship lurched forward, throwing the two men across the room. Lance rolled on top of Carmine and elbowed him in the face. Another explosion from beneath them and Lance was thrown from Carmine and into the couch.
He shot his foot out, taking Carmine in the face. Carmine grunted and rolled over, unconscious, as Lance climbed to his feet.
Lance ran to Sarah. "Come on!" he yelled, grabbing her arm and hauling her towards the door.
The door had been blocked by the henchman, but they were currently trying to save themselves, obviously assuming the boat was going down. The thugs closest to Carmine were trying to help his to his feet. Without turning back, Sarah and Lance fled from the office and onto the deck.
Bullets began to rain down around him. But the now shaking and swaying ship made the shots random at best. Every second a new explosion seemed to erupt from somewhere within the hull and with every explosion the ship became more and more unstable.
Lance ignored the bullets. He ignored the way the ship tilted and lurched. He ignored the pandemonium around him. I have to get Sarah to safety, he thought as he pushed her toward the side rails of the ship.
"Where are we going?!" Sarah yelled.
"The C4 is going to take this baby down! We need to get off the ship!" he yelled back. Lance had armed several small and medium sized bombs in and under his car before arriving at the docks. He had set them to a timer and hoped that he would still be alive when they went off in a succession of blasts designed to create pandemonium and hopefully sink the ship without immediately blowing everyone on it to the ends of the earth.
At the railings, Lance wasted little time lifting Sarah around the waist and throwing her overboard. He was less than a second behind her, his body falling through the air and crashing into the icy cold waters below.
All the while, the giant three-storey trawler was collapsing behind them. As Lance's head breached the surface, he watched as explosion after explosion rocked the great ship. The men onboard ran back and forth, unsure of what to do. The chaos was their downfall, as no one knew how to take control without Carmine yelling orders at them. And every second that passed, the trawler sank further and further into the water.
Sarah was treading water beside Lance now, still stunned and confused. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her away from the carnage. Together, the two swam down under the docks and to a neighboring pier. They made their way to a small vessel that Lance could climb onto. He reached down and pulled Sarah out of the water and they made their way onto the dock and to safety. If anyone else had escaped the burning trawler, the last thing on their minds would be to come after the escapees. They had made it.