Chapter 4 - THE SIEGE OF VILLA MORETTI"Stay down!" Alessandro barked, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me behind the massive mahogany desk just as a spray of suppressed gunfire shattered the stained-glass windows of the library.
Wood splinters flew through the air. I covered Emma with my body, squeezing my eyes shut as the terrifying roar of weapons echoed through the room.
Alessandro pulled a sleek black sidearm from a hidden holster under his desk. He reached under the heavy wood and pressed a concealed button. A section of the bookshelf smoothly swung open, revealing a dark, narrow corridor.
"Take Emma and go down those stairs," Alessandro commanded, pushing us toward the secret opening. "It leads to the old wine cellars. There is a armored escape vehicle at the end of the tunnel."
"What about you?!" I screamed over the sound of breaking glass.
"I have to deal with the rats in my house," he said, his eyes burning with a dark fire. "Go, Sarah! Now!"
He slammed the secret door shut behind us, locking us in the cool, damp darkness of the passage.
I held Emma tight against my chest. She was sobbing now, her hands clutching the headless, deflated blue rabbit.
"Mommy, I'm scared!" she cried.
"Shh, baby, it's okay. Mommy's here," I whispered, feeling my way down the cold stone steps in total darkness. The smell of damp earth and old wine filled my nose.
Behind us, through the thick stone walls, I could hear the muffled sounds of gunfire and heavy footsteps. Alessandro was fighting them off alone.
We reached the bottom of the staircase and entered a vast underground wine vault. Arched brick ceilings stretched out into the shadows. But as I moved forward, a shadow detached itself from the gloom ahead.
A flashlight beam clicked on, blinding me.
"Well, well," a voice rasped in heavily accented English. "The accountant's wife. And the little girl with the famous rabbit."
I shielded my eyes. Standing in front of us was a tall man in a tactical vest, holding an assault rifle. But it wasn't a Russian soldier.
It was Don Ricci’s right-hand man, Marco.
"You?" I gasped, stepping back. "Don Ricci is the traitor?"
Marco chuckled, a dry, cold sound. "Don Ricci? No, the old man is blind. He thinks we are fighting for honor. But the Russians pay in real gold. Hand over the rabbit's eye, Mrs. Bennett. The real master cipher is hidden inside that silver button, isn't it? Arthur didn't put it in a computer. He put it in hardware."
My mind raced. The silver button wasn't just a wire—it was the drive containing the entire fortune of the European underworld!
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"I don't have it," I lied, backing away slowly into the darkness of the aisles.
"Don't play games with me, woman," Marco growled, raising his weapon. "Hand it over, or the child doesn't see four years old."
