Chapter 4 - The Shadow of the Maroni
"Get them into the back room," Roderick ordered, his survival instincts instantly taking over the moment the threat became real. He pulled his silver revolver back out, his thumb pulling the hammer down with a deadly, familiar click. "Cyrus! How many?"
Cyrus stepped into the hallway, his face Grim. He held a suppressed submachine gun under his coat. "Two vehicles, boss. Six men. They aren't here for a conversation. They think the Bayou Boys are regrouping inside this house. They don't know you're here."
"Good," Roderick hissed. "Let’s keep it a surprise."
Adriana grabbed his arm, her fingers sinking into his linen sleeve. "Roderick, Beckett and the boy cannot be moved! The drain in his stomach will tear if he’s dragged! You have to hold them off!"
Roderick looked down at her. The anger was entirely gone now, replaced by that terrifyingly calm focus that made him the Ice King of the port. "Adriana. Go into the kitchen. Lock the door. If anyone opens it who isn't me or Cyrus, you use the scalpel in your bag. Do you understand me?"
She nodded, her face pale but her eyes resolute. She trusted him. Even now, surrounded by the violence she despised, she knew Roderick Sabatini was the only shield that could withstand the storm.
The first gunshot shattered the front window, sending shards of green glass and pieces of the velvet curtains flying into the dark corridor. Two men kicked the remains of the front door open, their weapons spraying bullets blindly down the narrow hall.
Roderick didn't flinch. He leaned out from the doorway of the left room, his silver revolver barking twice. The first shot caught the lead Maroni enforcer in the throat; the second took the second man directly between the eyes. Both hit the floor before they could even scream.
"Move up!" Cyrus shouted, advancing toward the porch, his weapon firing in short, controlled bursts that chewed through the wooden walls of the house, catching the men outside as they tried to reload.
But the Maroni family hadn't sent amateur street thugs. A third man came through the side window of the kitchen, his weapon drawn.
Roderick heard the glass shatter from the back. His heart stopped. Adriana.
He didn't think about his own safety. He didn't think about the docks, his money, or the codes of the underworld. He sprinted down the hallway, throwing himself through the kitchen door just as the Maroni hitman raised his pistol toward Adriana, who was shielding Beckett Hume with her own body.
Roderick tackled the hitman to the floor, the two men rolling across the stained linoleum. The man’s gun went off once, the bullet ricocheting off the old iron stove and striking Roderick across his bad right shoulder—the very muscle Adriana had spent months repairing.
Pain exploded through Roderick’s chest, but the rage inside him was louder. He used his left hand to grab the hitman's throat, slamming his head against the sharp edge of the kitchen counter until the man went limp beneath him.
Roderick stayed on his knees, his right arm hanging uselessly at his side, blood dark and fast soaking through his shirt.
"Roderick!" Adriana dropped to her knees beside him, her hands instantly tearing at his shirt to check the wound. "You’re shot. Oh God, you’re shot."
"Did he touch you?" Roderick gasped, his gray eyes searching her face for any sign of injury. "Adriana... did he touch you?"
"No," she wept, her tears mixing with the blood on her cheeks. "No, you caught him. You saved us. Let me see the shoulder..."
"The shoulder is fine," Roderick managed a grim smile, his chest heaving. "Commentary... commentary is complimentary, remember?"
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Outside, the gunfire stopped. Cyrus stepped into the kitchen, his weapon lowered, his breath coming hard. "The rest are taken care of, boss. The street is clear. But we need to move. The police will be here in less than five minutes."
"Take the boy," Roderick commanded Cyrus, nodding toward the back room. "Take Beckett. We’re moving the entire clinic to the east wing of the mansion. If anyone asks... tell them the Sabatini family is expanding its healthcare benefits."
