Chapter 14 - THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS
Rafael fired into the steel barrier until the magazine emptied.
The bullets left shallow dents.
“Find another entrance,” he ordered.
Diego led half the men back through the crypt.
Rafael remained before the barrier.
From the other side came the sound of dragging chains.
Then Salazar’s voice through a wall speaker.
“He wanted you to suffer, Rafael.”
Rafael reloaded.
“So did I.”
“You killed his brother.”
“You framed his brother.”
“And you pulled the trigger.”
The barrier began rising slowly.
Rafael crouched behind a stone column.
When the gap reached twelve inches, he rolled beneath it.
The passage opened into an underground ship-repair tunnel.
Water covered the floor.
Kell knelt near the center with blood running from his shoulder.
Salazar stood behind him.
A cable ran from Kell’s chest to an explosive vest.
A digital transmitter had been locked around Kell’s neck.
Rafael aimed at Salazar.
Salazar pressed a dead-man switch.
“If my hand opens, Kell disappears.”
Kell laughed weakly.
“He says that like it’s bad news.”
Rafael moved closer.
“Stop.”
Salazar looked delighted.
“Your empire is collapsing above us. Police are entering the harbor. Your captains are dying. And still you come for one man who sold you.”
“He has information.”
Kell looked at Rafael.
“Liar.”
Salazar tightened his grip on the switch.
“Tell him the truth.”
Rafael’s weapon remained raised.
“I came because he is mine.”
Kell’s expression changed.
Salazar laughed.
“Possession. That is the closest men like us come to love.”
“You know nothing about it.”
“I know Sofia made you reckless. The boy made you sentimental. Mara made you curious about your father’s guilt.”
Salazar pushed Kell forward.
“And this man made you weak.”
Kell looked at Rafael.
“Shoot through me.”
“No.”
“If the bullet hits Salazar—”
“The switch opens.”
“Then shoot the transmitter.”
“It may trigger the vest.”
“May.”
“No.”
Kell’s voice hardened.
“You killed Owen without certainty.”
Rafael flinched.
“Now you won’t kill me with it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was wrong then.”
“And?”
Rafael lowered his pistol slightly.
“And I will not repeat it.”
Salazar’s smile faded.
He had expected hatred to make Rafael predictable.
Forgiveness was a variable he had not considered.
Kell saw it too.
For the first time, the anger he had carried for six years had nowhere to go.
“Rafael,” he said quietly, “I sold routes. Men died because of me.”
“I know.”
“I allowed Salazar to take Sofia.”
“I know.”
“I entered Mara’s home.”
“I know.”
“You should hate me.”
“I do.”
Kell almost laughed.
“That’s better.”
“But hate is not judgment.”
Salazar pressed the gun against Kell’s head.
“This is touching.”
A siren sounded above them.
Police had reached the shipyard.
Salazar began moving toward a speedboat at the end of the tunnel.
He dragged Kell with him.
Rafael followed.
“Stay back.”
“You need the ledger.”
“I have it.”
Salazar held up the damaged book.
Half the pages had burned in the explosion.
“You have fragments.”
“Enough.”
“No. You need Mara.”
Salazar looked toward the boat.
“She is already dead.”
Rafael’s face changed.
Salazar smiled.
That was the opening Kell needed.
He drove his elbow backward into Salazar’s ribs.
The switch slipped.
Rafael fired.
The bullet struck Salazar’s wrist.
The dead-man switch fell.
Kell caught it before it hit the water.
For one impossible second, he held the device closed.
Salazar drew a knife and drove it into Kell’s side.
Kell dropped to one knee.
Rafael shot Salazar through the chest.
Salazar staggered but did not fall.
He lunged toward the switch.
Rafael tackled him.
The two men crashed into the flooded channel.
Kell remained frozen, one hand gripping the switch, the other pressed against his wound.
The timer on the vest activated.
Ninety seconds.
Salazar had programmed a secondary trigger.
Rafael dragged himself from the water.
Salazar surfaced behind him and reached for a pistol.
Kell fired.
The bullet struck Salazar between the eyes.
Victor Salazar fell backward into the black water.
Rafael reached Kell.
“Can you remove the vest?”
“No.”
“Can you disable it?”
“Not before the timer.”
Rafael examined the mechanism.
The vest connected to the steel floodgate controlling the tunnel entrance.
If the vest detonated near the gate, the shipyard above would collapse.
Hundreds of officers and wounded men would die.
The only reinforced blast chamber lay beyond a manual lock at the end of the tunnel.
Someone would have to carry the explosive inside.
The door could only be sealed from within.
Kell understood at the same moment.
“No.”
Rafael pulled him to his feet.
“Walk.”
“No.”
“You have seventy seconds.”
“It’s attached to me.”
“Not permanently.”
Rafael drew a knife and cut through the outer harness.
Wires remained connected to the neck transmitter.
Removing it incorrectly would detonate the explosives.
Kell tried to push him away.
“Leave it.”
Rafael struck him across the face.
“Stay still.”
“You can’t save me.”
“I can remove the main charge.”
“And then what?”
Rafael did not answer.
He severed the vest from Kell’s body while preserving the transmitter connection.
The explosive package came free.
But the collar remained locked around Kell’s neck.
A wire stretched between them.
Rafael held the bomb.
Kell wore the trigger.
They could not move more than eight feet apart.
Forty seconds remained.
Rafael moved toward the blast chamber.
Kell followed.
“No.”
“Walk.”
“You seal that door, you die.”
“Walk.”
“I betrayed you.”
“Walk.”
“I wanted Sofia dead.”
“You changed your mind.”
“I got your men killed.”
“Then spend the rest of your life remembering their names.”
They reached the chamber.
Twenty seconds.
Rafael placed the explosive package inside.
The connecting wire ran beneath the door.
He examined the collar.
One final cable could be severed only after the blast door began closing.
Someone inside would have less than three seconds to cut it.
Kell understood.
His eyes filled.
“No.”
Rafael placed one hand against the side of Kell’s face.
It was not a gesture he had ever offered him.
Not in thirteen years.
“Owen asked me to tell you he didn’t sell you.”
Kell’s mouth trembled.
“I know.”
“I should have believed him.”
“Yes.”
“I believe you now.”
The words broke something inside Kell.
Rafael shoved him through the doorway.
Then he slammed the control lever.
The blast door began descending.
Kell threw himself toward the narrowing gap.
Rafael kicked him backward.
The steel door reached Kell’s shoulders.
“Rafael!”
“Protect my sister.”
“I can’t do this.”
“Protect Nate.”
“Please.”
Rafael cut the wire.
The blast door sealed.
Kell struck it with both hands.
“RAFAEL!”
Inside the chamber, Rafael sat beside the explosive package.
Five seconds remained.
He removed his father’s ring.
He held it for a moment.
Then he smiled faintly.
May you like
“Debt paid.”
The timer reached zero.
