Chapter 7 - The Mastermind’s TrapThe rain poured down harder, washing over the blood-stained pier. Alessandro stood outside the armored van, his mind racing at light speed.
Florence was minutes from exploding. Safehouse Alpha was under siege. His brother Victor was bleeding on the dock, and the true monster was locked inside a bulletproof, bomb-resistant command vehicle holding all the remote keys.
“You think you’ve won, Marco?” Alessandro said, his voice dropping to a horrifyingly quiet, rhythmic tone.
“I have won, Alessandro!” Marco laughed through the speaker. “Look at your clock! Three minutes in Florence! Ten minutes in Upstate New York! You can’t be in two places at once, let alone three!”
Alessandro slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his private cell phone. He dialed a single number on speakerphone.
“Do it,” Alessandro said into the phone.
Suddenly, Marco’s smile vanished.
On the laptop screens inside Marco’s van, the live feed from Safehouse Alpha suddenly cut to static. When the video re-established, the four masked mercenaries Marco had sent were lying bound and gagged on the floor!
Standing in the center of the safehouse living room was Richard Hale—the explosive specialist—surrounded by twenty elite, heavily armed Moretti guards!
Behind them, Maria was holding little Sophie, safely drinking hot cocoa in a reinforced panic room.
Marco stared at the screen in disbelief. “WHAT?! HOW?!”
Alessandro stepped right up to the armored glass, his eyes burning like blue flames.
“You forgot one thing, Marco,” Alessandro said coldly. “When six-year-old Sophie told me she saw the red light under my desk, she also told me something else while we were in the parlor.”
Alessandro flashed back to the moment in the west parlor: Little Sophie had leaned into Alessandro’s ear and whispered: “Sir, the bad man who put the light under the desk had a shiny gold watch with a dragon on it.”
Alessandro had known right then. Victor never wore jewelry. But Marco Rossi wore a custom gold Rolex with an engraved dragon on the back every single day.
“I knew it was you from the very beginning, Marco,” Alessandro revealed, his voice echoing over the storm. “I let you think your plan was working. I let you trace the signal to Pier 42. And I sent my elite guard to Safehouse Alpha three hours ago!”
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Marco’s face twisted into pure horror. “No… NO! IT DOESN’T MATTER! I still hold the remote for Florence! In two minutes, Elena and her kids die!”
Marco slammed his thumb down on the red detonation button on his control pad!
