The first thing I noticed was not the flowers. Not the grieving parents in the front row. Not the tiny white coffin resting beneath soft lights,

The gunshots tore through the storm like thunder.

My first bullet took down the guard standing near the trailer door. Before his body hit the pavement, Sal’s sniper fire rained down from the overhead crane, taking out two more sentries near the front cab.

"Ambush!" Harlan screamed, throwing himself behind the heavy tires of the semi-truck. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

The night erupted into chaos. Muzzle flashes illuminated the rain in bright, blinding bursts. Automatic gunfire ricocheted off the steel shipping containers, sending sparks showering down like fireworks.

"Bruno! Go!" I barked.

The massive dog unleashed a deafening roar and bolted across the open pavement. He reached a guard who was aiming his rifle at Tony, leaping six feet through the air and crashing into the man’s chest. The guard screamed as Bruno pinned him to the asphalt, neutralizing the threat instantly.

I advanced through the center lane, laying down suppressive fire, moving from tire to tire, cover to cover. My men executed a perfect pincer movement, closing the exit routes, driving Harlan’s remaining mercenaries into a tight, inescapable bottleneck.

Within three minutes, the gunfire began to die down. Seven of Harlan’s guards lay motionless on the wet ground. The rest had thrown down their weapons, raising their hands into the air as my lieutenants surrounded them.

I walked steadily toward the semi-truck, my rifle resting against my shoulder.

"Harlan!" I shouted over the sound of the rain. "It’s over! Step out!"

Silence hung over the yard, broken only by the hum of the truck’s idling diesel engine.

Then, a sudden metallic click echoed from behind the rear tires of the trailer.

Harlan stepped out into the floodlights. He was holding a small handheld detonator in his right hand, his face slick with sweat, his eyes wild and desperate.

"Stay back, Dominic!" Harlan screamed, his thumb hovering over a red button on the device. "Stay back or I blow this whole container to hell!"

I stopped dead in my tracks thirty feet away. My men raised their weapons, but I held up a hand, ordering them to hold their fire.

"I put three blocks of C4 inside that trailer!" Harlan laughed hysterically, his voice cracking with madness. "If I press this button, every little piece of cargo in there turns into ash! Lower your guns or we all go together!"

Behind Harlan, inside the dark trailer, I could see several shadows shrinking back in terror.

I looked at Harlan. Then I looked down at my side.

Bruno was standing near my knee, his eyes locked onto Harlan’s right hand, his body coiled like a steel spring.

"You won't do it, Victor," I said calmly, taking a slow step forward. "You’re too much of a coward to die in a shipping yard."