Chapter 7 - The Blood ContractThe gunfire in the courtyard suddenly ceased, replaced by an eerie, heavy silence that felt heavier than the battle itself. Then came the sound of heavy boots mounting the grand marble staircase outside the study—slow, rhythmic, unhurried.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Someone was walking up the steps without hiding their approach. Someone who knew the guards at the lower checkpoints were already neutralized.
Alessandro walked swiftly to the oil painting of the fleet, punched a four-digit combination into the concealed wall safe, and swung the heavy steel door open. Inside sat the original Moretti family signet ring, a leather-bound ledger containing the names of every corrupt official in the Mediterranean basin, and a heavy, matte-black Glock 19 with an extended magazine.
He didn't take the ledger. He reached past it and pulled out a small, old-fashioned brass key—the key to the estate's subterranean drainage tunnel that led directly out to the coastal cliffs two miles away.
He tossed the key onto Sophia's lap.
"Take it," Alessandro commanded. "Take Clara and the child through the drainage tunnel. Victor is holding the secondary generator room. He will give you transport to the safehouse in Genoa."
Sophia looked up, stunned, clutching the brass key against her chest. "And you? Alessandro, there are twenty professional operators outside that door. You can't hold them off alone."
"I am not going to hold them off," Alessandro said, a grim, humorless smile touching the corner of his mouth as he racked the slide of the Glock. "I am going to invite them in."
May you like
Before she could answer, the lock on the study door gave a sharp, metallic click. The heavy oak panels didn't break; they swung open smoothly, revealing the gray-haired man from the head table standing calmly in the doorway, a silver-plated suppressor screwed onto the end of his custom Sig Sauer pistol.
Behind him stood four armed operatives, their weapons pointed straight at Alessandro's chest.
