Chapter 49 - The Siege of San Lorenzo
We moved through the dimly lit stone corridors like twin shadows of vengeance. The fortress was designed for defense, its narrow hallways forcing invaders into deadly fatal funnels.
Luca took point, his assault rifle raised, firing double-taps into the smoke as the first wave of Leviathan mercenaries rounded the corner of the grand armory. The men wore high-tech matte-gray tactical suits, their faces concealed behind mirrored ballistic visors.
*Crack-crack! Crack-crack!*
Luca's rounds found the gaps beneath their helmets, dropping two mercenaries instantly. I leaned around the granite archway, steadying my pistol with my right hand, lining up the third man who was attempting to flank him with a flashbang.
*Bang!*
My shot caught him in the throat. He crumpled with a gurgle, the unpinned flashbang detonating harmlessly beneath his corpse in a harmless flash of white.
"Clear!" I shouted, the adrenaline burning out the lingering pain in my shoulder.
"Good shot, Donna," Luca flashed a lethal grin, reloading his magazine in half a second before grabbing my arm and pulling me behind the cover of a massive stone pillar.
Below us, in the great banquet hall, Dante's men were engaged in a savage, close-quarters firefight. Tracers lit the air like neon fireflies, shattering the antique crystal chandeliers and ripping the ancient tapestries to shreds. The Leviathan forces were relentless, advancing with heavy ballistic shields and thermobaric grenades.
"They're pushing Dante back toward the chapel!" I yelled over the deafening din of automatic fire. "If they breach the chapel, they reach the bunker where Carmela is!"
"Not while I breathe," Luca growled. He unclipped two heavy fragmentation grenades from his belt, pulled the pins with his teeth, and hurled them down into the center of the mercenary shield wall.
*BOOM! BOOM!*
The shockwave tore through the grand hall, sending mercenary bodies flying across the shattered marble floor. The mercenary frontline broke. Dante let out a savage battle roar, surging forward with his surviving soldiers to cut down the retreating invaders.
Luca and I descended the spiral staircase, stepping over the smoking debris to join Dante.
"Status!" Luca barked.
"Lower docks are completely flooded," Dante panted, blood running down the side of his temple from a shrapnel graze. "We held the corridor, but their command squad never came through the water. Boss... it was a diversion."
Luca froze. "What did you say?"
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"The frontal assault... the submersibles... it was just a distraction to pull all our men down to the sea level," Dante gasped, his eyes wide with horror as he checked his tactical radio. "The courtyard... a heavy transport helicopter just landed on the clifftop helipad!"
***
