Chapter 6 - Into the Shadows
I backed away from the conservatory doors, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had no weapons, no training, and nowhere to run. The heavy mahogany doors began to splinter as a heavy boot slammed against the wood from the outside.
Crack.
The lock gave way. Two masked men dressed in tactical gear stepped into the dim, red-lit room, assault rifles raised and scanning the shadows.
“Clear,” one muttered through a muffled voice modulator.
I pressed myself flat against a towering Monstera plant in the corner of the glass conservatory, holding my breath. If they checked the corners, I was dead. There was no theatrical rescue coming; Salvatore was miles away fighting a war on the docks.
Then, the second operative stepped closer to my hiding spot, his boots crunching on the gravel floor. He raised his rifle barrel, sweeping it directly toward my face.
I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact.
Thud.
A wet, heavy sound echoed through the room. The operative’s rifle clattered to the floor, followed immediately by the dead-weight collapse of his body.
I opened my eyes. Standing behind him, holding a heavy marble chess board by the corner, was Marcus. His face was smeared with soot and blood, his breathing heavy.
“Move,” Marcus hissed, grabbing my arm with iron force. “They breached the safe room. We have to go through the tunnels.”
“Tunnels?” I gasped, stumbling as he dragged me toward a concealed panel hidden behind a massive bookcase in the study.
“Every king needs an escape hatch,” Marcus muttered, punching a numerical code into a hidden keypad. The wall slid open with a pneumatic hiss, revealing a dark, concrete stairwell descending into the earth. “And Marquetti is a very paranoid king.”
We scrambled down into the damp, subterranean corridor just as a burst of automatic gunfire chewed through the drywall behind us, sending wood splinters raining down like confetti.
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Marcus slammed a heavy steel button on the wall inside the tunnel, sealing the hydraulic door shut just as another wave of bullets pinged uselessly against the metal exterior.
We were cut off from the house. And down here in the dark, we were walking straight into whatever trap Salvatore had left behind.
