Chapter 6 - The Trap is Sprung
"Breach on the lower terrace!" Marco’s voice roared through the intercom system, followed immediately by the staccato chatter of automatic gunfire.
Vincent didn't hesitate for a microsecond. In one fluid motion, he pulled Clara behind the solid concrete pillar that anchored the master suite. His pistol was already drawn.
"Volkov," Vincent snarled, his eyes narrowing into cold slits of fury. "Julian must have given them the access codes to the building's private freight elevator before he died."
Elena ran out of the living room, screaming in terror. "What is that?! What's happening?!"
"Elena, get into the panic room behind the bookshelf!" Clara commanded, stepping out from behind the pillar despite the gunfire echoing from the hallway. "Mia is still in the bedroom!"
"Clara, stay down!" Vincent commanded, his voice raw with authority.
"She’s my patient!" Clara yelled back, sprint-crawling toward the bedroom door just as the heavy wooden entrance to the penthouse was blown off its hinges by a breaching charge.
Three men clad in tactical black armor with Russian insignia stormed through the smoke, their assault rifles sweeping the room.
"Find the girl!" the lead mercenary shouted in Russian. "Kill Moretti!"
Vincent stepped out from behind the pillar with lethal, terrifying precision. *Double tap. Double tap.* Two mercenaries dropped instantly, bullets piercing the unarmored seams of their tactical helmets. The third mercenary dove behind the marble kitchen island, firing wildly.
Clara kicked open the bedroom door. Mia was sitting upright in bed, clutching her teddy bear, her face pale with terror.
"Clara!" Mia cried out.
"I’ve got you, sweetheart, I’ve got you!" Clara scooped the child into her arms, rolling beneath the heavy oak vanity table just as a spray of 9mm rounds shredded the bedroom door and tore through the mattress.
Outside the bedroom, the firefight escalated into absolute pandemonium. Marco and the remaining loyal Moretti guards engaged the strike team in the grand corridor. The sound was deafening—concrete shattering, glass raining down like crystalline hail, the sharp, pungent smell of cordite filling the air.
Through the splintered doorway, Clara saw a fourth mercenary flank Vincent from the blind spot of the terrace glass. Vincent was pinned down by suppressing fire from the kitchen, unaware of the rifle aiming directly at his spine.
There was no time to think.
Clara grabbed a heavy brass floor lamp from beside the vanity. "Mia, stay under the table and close your eyes!"
With adrenaline surging through her veins, Clara bolted from the bedroom into the hallway. The Russian mercenary had his finger on the trigger, lining up the kill shot on Vincent’s back.
Clara swung the heavy brass base with every ounce of strength in her body, smashing it across the back of the mercenary's helmet.
The blow didn't knock the armored man out, but it threw his aim completely off. The burst of gunfire shattered the glass ceiling above them instead of Vincent’s spine. The mercenary snarled, turning his massive frame toward Clara, his gloved hand reaching for her throat.
"Die, bitch—"
*BANG.*
Vincent appeared like a wraith from the smoke. A single hollow-point bullet tore through the mercenary's throat, dropping the giant instantly to the marble floor.
Vincent grabbed Clara by the shoulders, pulling her against his chest, his breathing ragged, his eyes scanning her frantically for wounds. "Are you hit? Clara, are you bleeding?"
"I'm fine!" she gasped, her hands shaking against his chest. "Mia is safe under the vanity! But Vincent, they aren't here just to fight—they're trying to burn this place down!"
A red phosphorus grenade bounced through the shattered front entrance, spewing thick, choking chemical smoke and blinding white flames across the grand foyer.
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"The roof," Vincent ordered, hauling Clara with one arm while Marco emerged from the corridor carrying Mia securely against his tactical vest. Elena was right behind them, trembling but unharmed. "The private helipad. We take the bird out now!"
***
