Chapter 100: Chapter 100: The Final Strike
The night was eerily quiet as Cole and his crew approached the docks where the underground's final shipment was expected to arrive. The city skyline loomed in the distance, a silent witness to what was about to go down. The air was thick with tension, but there was no turning back now. This was it—the moment they had been building toward. It wasn't just about the shipment. It wasn't even about the money or the weapons. Tonight was about sending a message: Cole and his crew were not going to be pushed around anymore.
Ty crouched beside Cole, scanning the area with a pair of binoculars. "Looks like they've got a lot of security posted," he muttered, lowering the binoculars and handing them to Cole. "But they don't seem to be expecting anything big."
Cole took the binoculars and focused on the dockyard below. A handful of guards patrolled the perimeter, their movements casual. The shipping containers were stacked high, and just beyond them, a freighter sat docked, its engines still running. It was the target—loaded with enough firepower to keep the underground's operations going for months.
"We're hitting them from three sides," Cole said quietly, eyes scanning the terrain. "Zack's group will come from the left and take out the guards at the gate. Ty, you take your team up the right flank. Lina and I will go straight for the shipment."
Lina, who had been standing silently beside Cole, gave him a sharp nod. Her jaw was set, her eyes focused. She wasn't one for unnecessary words, but her presence beside him was steadying, a reminder that they were in this together.
"Everyone clear?" Cole asked, his voice cutting through the night.
The crew murmured their agreement. Ty's eyes narrowed with determination, and Zack's group was already moving into position.
"Alright," Cole said, slipping a black bandana over his face to cover his features. "No mistakes. We hit them fast and we hit them hard."
With that, they moved out, each group breaking off toward their designated targets. Cole and Lina crept along the shipping containers, their footsteps silent on the gravel. The dockyard's dim lights cast long shadows, perfect for staying out of sight until the right moment. As they neared the ship, Cole's heart pounded in his chest, the adrenaline mixing with the cold, calculated focus he had honed over years of fighting.
"This is it," Lina whispered, crouching behind a container as they neared the ship. "No going back after this."
"We don't need to go back," Cole replied, his voice low. "We're here to finish this."
Lina flashed him a small, fierce smile before turning her attention back to the ship. There was a pause, the calm before the storm, and then, in the distance, a low thud—Zack's team had taken out the guards at the gate. That was the signal.
"Let's move," Cole said, rising from his crouch and moving toward the ship.
They sprinted forward, staying low as they reached the side of the massive freighter. A group of guards stood near the gangplank, chatting idly, unaware that their night was about to take a deadly turn.
"Take the one on the left," Cole whispered to Lina as they approached the guards. Without hesitation, she nodded, pulling out a small knife and moving like a shadow toward her target. Cole moved in the opposite direction, his footsteps silent as he closed the distance between himself and the guard on the right.
In a flash, they struck. Lina's knife flashed in the dim light, silencing her guard with a swift, precise movement. Cole took out his man with a hard strike to the back of the head, dropping him before he could make a sound. The two bodies hit the ground simultaneously.
"Clear," Lina whispered, wiping her blade on her sleeve.
Cole gave her a nod before signaling for the rest of the crew to move in. Within moments, Ty and Zack's teams had secured the dockyard, taking out the remaining guards and clearing a path to the ship. Now all that was left was the shipment itself.
They made their way up the gangplank and onto the deck of the ship, moving with purpose. The air was thick with the smell of saltwater and diesel fuel. The crew knew what they were looking for—a specific container that held the underground's entire stash of weapons. It was the heart of their operation, and Cole was about to rip it out.
"This is the one," Ty called out, pointing to a large shipping container marked with a red X. "Everything we're looking for is inside."
Cole approached the container, his heart hammering in his chest. They had made it this far, but there was still a sense of danger lurking. The underground wasn't going to go down without a fight, and they had to be ready for anything.
"Open it," Cole ordered.
Zack stepped forward, producing a crowbar and jamming it into the container's lock. With a grunt, he pried the door open, revealing the cache inside. Crates upon crates of weapons, explosives, and ammunition stacked neatly from floor to ceiling.
Lina's eyes widened as she took in the sheer volume. "This is enough to start a war."
"Exactly," Cole said, his voice cold. "And we're going to make sure they never get to use it."
Ty stepped forward, setting up a series of explosives around the container. "This'll take out the whole shipment," he said, his hands steady as he worked. "And probably the ship too."
Cole nodded. "Good. Set the timer and let's get out of here."
As Ty finished rigging the explosives, Cole turned to face the crew. They had pulled it off. They had taken the fight to the underground and hit them where it hurt the most. But as he looked around at the faces of his people, he knew it wasn't over yet. The underground would regroup, they would retaliate, and this war was far from finished.
Still, tonight was a victory. And it was a victory that would echo through the streets of the city. The underground had ruled with fear and violence for too long, but tonight, they had shown that they weren't invincible.
"Let's move," Cole said, his voice cutting through the night. "We've done what we came to do."
The crew moved swiftly, descending the gangplank and making their way back through the dockyard as the timer on the explosives ticked down. There was no room for error now. They had to be gone before the entire place went up in flames.
They reached the perimeter of the dockyard just as the timer hit zero.
BOOM!
The explosion ripped through the night, lighting up the sky with a fiery glow. The freighter rocked violently as the container erupted in flames, the shockwave echoing through the city. Cole turned to watch as the ship burned, the underground's entire arsenal reduced to ash in a matter of seconds.
A grim smile tugged at his lips. They had done it.
As the crew retreated into the night, their mission complete, Cole couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. The underground had tried to break them, but they had only made them stronger. They had survived, and they had fought back.
But as they disappeared into the shadows, Cole knew that this was only the beginning. The underground would come for them again, and the next fight would be even more dangerous. But for now, they had won.
And Cole Matthews wasn't about to let anyone take that from him.
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**End of Volume 1**
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