Chapter 9 - The Ultimate ChoiceFrom the shadow of a towering shipping container, two of Petrov’s thugs dragged a terrified, gagged hostage into the glare of the spotlight.
It wasn't Josie. It was Ruth—the kind, elderly woman who owned the diner where Josie used to work, the only mother figure Josie had known since running away at seventeen.
"Vance, don't!" Josie screamed, raising her weapon, but Petrov’s men instantly stepped up, holding a pistol directly to Ruth’s trembling temple.
"Drop the gun, Thorne!" Petrov stepped into the light from the upper gantry, holding a detonator in one hand and a cigar in the other. "Drop your gun, or the old lady dies right now. And then the girl gets a front-row seat to her execution!"
Vance looked at Ruth, then looked at Josie, whose eyes were wide with sheer, desperate terror. For the first time in his life, the invincible crime lord looked trapped. He slowly lowered his pistol to the concrete floor, his shoulders slumping.
"Smart choice," Petrov sneered, laughing darkly as he signaled his men to move in and cuff Vance. "Take them all down. Leave no witnesses."
As two thugs rushed forward with heavy steel zip-ties to bind Vance, Josie locked eyes with Nero, who had slipped out of the transport van unnoticed during the chaos, padding silently through the puddles right behind Petrov’s sniper nest on the upper gantry.
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Josie didn't hesitate. She dropped to the wet asphalt, scooped up Vance’s dropped pistol with her left hand while keeping her own gun raised, and screamed at the top of her lungs:
"NOW, NERO!"
