Page 131 of Broken Oath

Rook intercepted him.

They crashed into a navigation console.

The man drove an elbow into Rook’s ribs.

Pain exploded across his side.

Rook slammed the mercenary against the console and struck him hard enough to drop him.

Another shooter rose behind the captain’s chair.

Sniper fired before the man brought his weapon up.

The fight lasted less than a minute.

It felt like an hour.

Then silence descended.

Smoke drifted across the bridge.

Broken glass covered the floor.

Several monitors sparked.

Madow’s strike team lay scattered around them.

Rook swept the area.

“Bridge secure.”

Cutter answered immediately.

“On my way.”

“Reef, send the captain up with him.”

“Copy.”

Rook looked through the shattered bridge window.

Cutter’s tug still battled the second strike boat. The smaller vessel fired toward the wheelhouse, but its rounds bounced from the reinforced steel.

Cutter turned the tug toward it.

The mercenaries broke away rather than risk sharing the first boat’s fate.

Both surviving strike vessels raced into the darkness.

“They’re retreating,” Fathom reported.

“They’ll regroup,” Rook said.

“Coast Guard response is twenty minutes out.”

Cutter boarded the cargo ship from the stern and arrived on the bridge with the Northern Star’s terrified captain.

The captain looked at the bodies.