Chapter 6 - Fire on the North Wing
"Then where do we go, Boss?" Marco asked, ducking slightly as a volley of bullets shattered the stained-glass window at the end of the corridor outside. The smell of acrid smoke began to drift through the ventilation shafts.
Luca grabbed a heavy black trench coat from the hook behind the door and threw it over my shoulders, then scooped Lily into his left arm while keeping his pistol raised in his right.
"The old carriage house through the conservatory," Luca decided instantly. "The conservatory has an reinforced underground drainage line installed during the 1920s. It leads straight down to the lake shore docks. Vanessa never knew about it because the blueprints were destroyed forty years ago."
"I'll draw their fire down the main grand staircase," Marco said, racking the bolt of his rifle. "Matteo and I will make them think you're securing the vault."
"Hold them for five minutes, Marco. Then fall back to the secondary perimeter," Luca ordered, gripping his capo's shoulder in a brief, grim gesture of brotherhood. "Don't die on me."
"Never on a Monday, Boss," Marco grinned through the blood on his forehead, turning on his heel and sprinting toward the sound of gunfire.
Luca looked down at me. "Stay directly behind me. If I shoot, do not look. Just keep moving."
"I'm with you," I said firmly, the initial shock giving way to an icy surge of adrenaline. I pulled the collar of the trench coat tight around Lily, who was trembling silently, clutching my sleeve with both hands as Luca carried her.
We slipped out into the corridor. The smell of cordite and burning wallpaper was choking. Alarms wailed across the estate, red emergency strobe lights painting the marble walls in garish shades of crimson.
Luca moved with deadly, predatory grace. We navigated through the service corridors, slipping down the narrow back staircase into the lush, glass-domed conservatory. Tall tropical palms and exotic orchids cast jagged shadows under the flickering emergency lights.
Suddenly, the glass roof above us shattered into rain of lethal shards.
"Down!" Luca roared, throwing his body over Lily and me as glass rained all around us.
Through the shattered dome, two men clad in black tactical gear descended on ropes, submachine guns slung across their chests. Salvatore Bellini’s hit squad had anticipated an escape into the gardens.
Before the first mercenary's boots even hit the stone floor, Luca rolled onto his back, raising his Beretta with machine-like precision.
*Crack! Crack!*
Two bullets found their marks instantly. The first mercenary collapsed like a marionette with severed strings. The second hit the floor rolling, bringing his weapon up to fire.
Luca lunged forward, kicking the barrel of the mercenary's gun upward as a deafening burst tore through the hanging fern baskets above. With a brutal twist of his arm, Luca disarmed the man, slammed him against a stone fountain, and neutralized him with a single, devastating blow to the throat.
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The conservatory fell silent, save for the crackling of burning wood from the main mansion and the heavy, ragged breathing of the don.
Luca picked his weapon back up, checking the magazine. "Drainage hatch is behind the statue of Diana. Emily, run!"