Chapter 3 - THE FIRST SHOT
“DOWN!”
Marco hit the floor as the dining room windows exploded.
Gunfire ripped through the glass.
Dante threw himself over Leo.
Bullets chewed through chairs, walls, picture frames.
Someone screamed in the hallway.
Dante pulled his pistol from the back of his waistband and fired twice toward the garden.
“Marco!”
“Got him!”
Marco crawled across the floor, grabbed Leo by the shirt, and dragged him behind the stone fireplace.
Dante fired again.
A shadow dropped outside.
The emergency lights clicked on.
Dim red strips glowed along the baseboards.
Javier was still tied to the chair.
He had tipped onto his side.
“Untie me!” he shouted.
Dante ignored him.
More shots.
From the front of the house now.
Two directions.
Coordinated.
Dante’s security chief, Luca Bellini, shouted from the hall.
“West door breached!”
“How many?”
“At least six!”
Dante looked toward Marco.
“Safe room.”
Marco nodded.
“Come on, Leo.”
Leo clung to the recorder.
Dante saw it.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“Leo!”
“They want it!”
A round slammed into the fireplace.
Stone dust sprayed the boy’s hair.
Dante made the decision.
“Keep it.”
Marco pulled Leo into the hallway.
Dante turned back toward Javier.
“You knew this was coming.”
Javier shook his head.
“No.”
“You planned it.”
“Not like this!”
Dante fired at movement near the broken window.
A man dropped.
Javier shouted, “If they get inside, they kill me too!”
“Not my problem.”
“Dante!”
Dante moved toward the hall.
Javier screamed after him.
“YOUR FATHER WILL KILL THE BOY!”
Dante stopped.
He looked back.
Javier’s face was twisted with panic.
“He doesn’t leave loose ends.”
Dante started toward him.
A security man ran into the room.
“Boss, we need—”
The man jerked backward.
Blood burst from his shoulder.
An attacker appeared behind him.
Dante fired.
Once.
The attacker dropped.
Dante grabbed Javier’s chair and dragged it behind the kitchen island.
“Who gave them access?”
“I don’t know!”
“They’re inside my house.”
“I said I don’t know!”
A loud metallic beep echoed through the hallway.
Marco shouted something.
Dante’s blood went cold.
The safe room keypad.
Someone was entering the code.
Only four living people knew that code.
Dante.
Marco.
Javier.
And Salvatore.
“Leo!”
Dante ran.
The upstairs hall was filled with smoke.
A body lay near the stairs.
Dante stepped over it.
“Marco!”
Gunfire answered.
He reached the turn toward the safe room.
Marco was crouched behind a marble column, firing toward two men at the opposite end.
“Leo?”
“Inside!”
“Who opened it?”
“I did!”
“Then who’s on the keypad?”
Marco pointed.
A masked attacker was crouched beside the security panel.
Dante fired.
The man collapsed.
Dante rushed forward and tore off the mask.
He knew the face.
Nico Parisi.
One of Salvatore’s old soldiers.
A man who had been coming to Romano Christmas dinners since Dante was fifteen.
Marco saw him.
“Oh, damn.”
Nico coughed.
Blood bubbled at his lips.
Dante grabbed him.
“Who sent you?”
Nico smiled weakly.
“You know.”
“Say it.”
Nico’s eyes drifted toward the safe-room door.
“The old lion wants his house back.”
Then he died.
Dante stood slowly.
The shooting downstairs faded.
Luca’s men were gaining control.
Marco lowered his weapon.
“Dante.”
Dante didn’t answer.
“Brother.”
Dante finally looked at him.
Marco’s face had changed.
“What?”
“Javier.”
Dante turned.
May you like
“What about him?”
“He’s gone.”
