Chapter 10 - The Escape Route
We moved down the rear stairs,
leaving Aoife behind to her fate.
The rain was a solid wall of water,
obscuring our vision as we ran toward the pier.
In the distance,
we could see the headlights of several black SUVs tearing through the dockyard.
Salvatore’s men were closing the net,
their weapons ready.
We reached the edge of the wooden pier,
where several old,
rusted fishing boats bobbed in the rough water.
“Which one?”
Killian shouted over the roar of the wind and rain.
“The blue one,”
I yelled back,
pointing to a weathered vessel named ‘The Emerald Sea’.
We scrambled aboard,
the boat rocking violently under our weight.
I ran to the small cabin,
searching the dusty engine box.
My fingers closed around a heavy brass key,
cold and wet.
“I have it!”
I called out.
I inserted the key into the ignition,
turning it with all my strength.
The engine sputtered,
coughed,
and then roared to life with a thick cloud of grey smoke.
Killian untied the heavy ropes,
throwing them onto the deck as the boat began to move away from the pier.
Behind us,
several figures emerged from the shadows of the warehouse,
firing their weapons into the dark water.
The bullets splashed harmlessly around us,
the distance quickly growing too wide.
We had escaped the trap,
but the city was no longer safe.
Killian stepped into the small cabin,
taking the wooden wheel from my hands.
He guided the boat through the dark harbor,
heading toward the open sea.
“Where are we going?”
I asked,
shivering in my wet clothes.
“A safe house in Galway,”
he replied,
his eyes focused on the dark horizon.
“A place where no one can find us.”
“And then?”
“And then,”
he said,
looking at me,
“we rebuild.”
“We take back what is mine.”
“And you,
Norah,
will no longer be standing in the shadows.”
I looked out at the dark,
churning water,
feeling a strange sense of peace.
The life I had known was gone,
shattered like the glass in the foyer mirror.
May you like
But as I stood beside the devil of Dublin,
I knew I was finally awake.
