Chapter 7 - The Hit at Midnight
The estate went pitch black.
The heavy rain drowned out the sound of tires rolling across the gravel driveway. Six black SUVs crept past the smashed iron gates, their headlights turned off, relying on night-vision optics.
The lead vehicle came to a halt fifty yards from the grand front steps.
Inside the lead SUV, the commander of the Vance strike team raised his radio. “All teams, dismount. No survivors. Take Dominic’s head and burn the rest.”
The doors flew open. Forty men in tactical gear poured into the driving rain, raising their rifles toward the dark mansion.
Suddenly, a blinding flash ripped through the darkness.
A high-yield claymore mine, rigged to the fountain at the center of the roundabout, detonated with a deafening roar. The shockwave flipped the lead SUV onto its side, sending shrapnel tearing through the vanguard.
Chaos erupted instantly.
“Ambush! We’re under fire!”
From the shadows of the second-floor balcony, Dominic opened fire with lethal precision. Every blast from his shotgun illuminated the rain-slicked courtyard, dropping enemy shooters where they stood.
Simultaneously, a shadow moved like a wraith through the trees flanking the driveway.
Nora moved with terrifying, fluid speed.
She emerged behind the third SUV, silenced pistol in hand. Pfft. Pfft. Two bodyguards dropped before their bodies even registered the impact. A third mercenary turned, raising his carbine, but Nora closed the distance in a heartbeat.
She caught his wrist, twisted it until the bone snapped through the skin, drove her combat knife under his vest into his armpit, and used his falling body as a human shield against a barrage of incoming fire.
She fired over the dead man’s shoulder, clearing the perimeter with machine-like accuracy.
Up on the balcony, Dominic watched his wife operate in the dark.
It was a terrifying, breathtaking symphony of violence. She didn't panic. She didn't waste a single bullet. She flowed between targets like water, anticipating enemy movements before they even made them.
Dominic vaulted over the stone balustrade, landing heavily on the gravel below. He fired two slugs into an approaching gunman, drew his sidearm, and moved toward Nora’s position.
Back to back, the mafia boss and the former black-ops assassin stood in the center of the storm.
“You missed one on the left,” Nora shouted over the thunder.
Dominic spun without looking, firing two rounds through the tinted window of the rear SUV. A gunman slumped out of the passenger seat.
“No, I didn't,” Dominic smirked through the rain.
May you like
Nora reloaded with a lightning-fast flick of her wrist. “Not bad for an old-school mobster.”
“Keep talking, Mrs. Gallo. We still have a city to take back.”
