Derek spun toward the noise, pulling me with him.

“Who is there?” Derek yelled into the dark.

No one answered.

The only sound was the whistling of the wind through the containers.

The guard near the container door turned his rifle toward the darkness.

“Sir, I think we have a problem,” the guard said, his voice trembling.

“Shut up and watch the boss,” Derek barked.

He turned his gun back toward where Vincent had been standing.

But the space was empty.

Vincent was gone.

“Where is he?” Derek screamed, his voice rising in panic.

He shook me violently.

“Where did he go, Clara?”

I did not answer.

My fingers were slippery with sweat against the steel tool.

I slid it down into the palm of my hand.

The spring-loaded mechanism was primed.

“Find him!” Derek yelled to the remaining guard.

“Now!”

The guard took two steps into the darkness, his rifle raised.

A sudden shadow moved behind a stack of wooden pallets.

The guard turned, but it was too late.

A heavy wooden crate crashed to the ground nearby, shattering into splinters.