Chapter 7 - The Ambush at the North Gate
The rain outside had turned into a howling blizzard, driving sheets of frozen sleet against the reinforced glass windows of the Moretti mansion.
Down in the subterranean convoy bay, the atmosphere was thick with the smell of high-octane gasoline, burning rubber, and chilled steel. Mateo and four of his most trusted tactical operators were furiously racking the bolts of their MP5 submachine guns, checking magazines, and strapping ceramic tactical vests over their heavy winter coats.
I stood near the reinforced concrete pillar by the elevator, watching Luca pull a matte-black Sig Sauer P226 from a shoulder holster and chamber a round with a sharp, metallic clack.
"Stay in the secure panic room behind the wine cellar, Sophie," Luca ordered without looking back, his eyes locked onto the security monitor displaying the north gate feed.
"I'm not hiding, Mr. Moretti," I replied, my voice holding a stubborn edge that made Mateo pause and glance sideways at me. "I’ve survived four years of hospital budget cuts and twenty-nine years of Chicago winters. I'm not going to sit in a dark room while people with guns try to breach the property."
Luca turned around, starting to argue, but when he saw the absolute, unyielding determination in my brown eyes, he stopped. A slow, grim nod replaced his frown.
"Stay behind me, then," he said shortly. "If things get loud, you drop flat on the concrete and you don't look up."
On the main security monitor, the black Escalade without plates came barreling down the winding private drive, smashing through the outer decorative brick pillars as if they were made of balsa wood. It tore across the frozen lawn, spraying mud and slush everywhere, before slamming to a violent halt right outside the subterranean convoy ramp doors.
CRASH.
The heavy steel overhead garage doors shuddered under the impact of a coordinated vehicle ram.
"They're using a hydraulic battering ram on the service access!" Mateo shouted over the rising din of screeching tires and grinding metal.
"Let them in," Luca commanded coldly, flicking the safety off his pistol. "Spread out along the blind spots. Do not fire until I give the word."
The seconds stretched into an eternity. The wind howled outside the reinforced gates.
Then—with a deafening roar of explosives—the service access door blew inward in a shower of sparks, smoke, and shattered steel.
Through the billowing white smoke, three tactical figures in black ballistic armor and night-vision goggles poured into the convoy bay, rifles raised and sweeping the room.
"Clear!" shouted the lead operative.
They didn't even have time to take a second step.
"Now," Luca said.
The convoy bay erupted into a deafening symphony of gunfire. Mateo and his men laid down a wall of suppressive fire that chewed up the concrete pillars around the intruders, forcing them to scatter behind the parked armored SUVs.
"Drop your weapons!" Luca’s voice boomed across the garage, cutting through the gunfire like thunder. "You walked into a tomb!"
One of the intruders tried to swing his rifle toward Luca’s position.
Before he could pull the trigger, a sharp crack echoed from the side of the bay. A single, perfectly placed round struck the intruder’s weapon, sending it flying out of his hands with a shower of sparks.
The three men froze, realizing instantly that they were completely outmatched, surrounded, and outgunned on every side.
"Hands on your heads! Down on the concrete! Now!" Mateo roared, rushing forward with his rifle raised and kicking their weapons away across the floor.
Within thirty seconds, the fight was over.
Luca walked slowly toward the kneeling intruders, his pistol still raised, his dark eyes scanning their tactical gear until he spotted a familiar insignia stitched onto the shoulder of their ballistic vests—a silver serpent wrapped around a dagger.
May you like
The insignia of the Russo syndicate.
"Send my regards to your boss," Luca whispered, pressing the barrel of his pistol against the back of the lead operative's helmet. "Tell him that whatever he thinks Vanessa promised him... is dead."
