Chapter 10 - Beneath the Docks
The subterranean storm tunnels beneath the freight harbor were pitch-black, smelling heavily of stagnant river water, damp rust, and industrial chemicals. Armed with tactical flashlights fitted with infrared filters, Rowan led the strike team through the concrete maze with absolute familiarity, her combat medic training guiding every step. They navigated a series of narrow junction pipes until they reached a heavy steel utility door marked with faded hazard symbols—the exact threshold of Warehouse 14’s sub-basement. Gideon motioned for his men to hold position, stepping up to the door and testing the digital keypad lock. It was wired into an independent battery system. “We can’t slice the power without tripping an alarm at the precinct,” Gideon whispered, looking back at Rowan. Rowan stepped past him, pulling a small, modified medical instrument kit from her canvas bag—tools she routinely used for emergency surgical extractions in low-tech field environments. She popped open the exterior casing of the digital keypad with a flathead screwdriver, exposing the delicate copper circuit board inside. Utilizing a pair of precision surgical tweezers and a copper grounding wire, she bypassed the biometric relay in less than fifteen seconds. With a soft, mechanical click, the heavy steel door unlatched and swung inward. “You still have the magic touch,” Gideon muttered, flashing a brief, approving grin. Slipping inside the sub-basement, the team found themselves in a damp, windowless storage room filled with stacked crates of smuggled electronics. Across the hall, a flickering fluorescent light illuminated a reinforced wooden door guarded by a single armed mercenary wearing a heavy tactical vest. Before the guard could process their sudden emergence from the utility corridor, one of Gideon’s enforcers moved with blinding speed, wrapping an arm around the man’s neck and silently taking him down into unconsciousness without a single shot being fired. Rowan hurried across the hallway, sliding her master keycard into the side slot of the reinforced door and shoving it open.
