Chapter 5 - Blood on the Snow
Lorenzo fired.
The heavy shotgun blast tore through the air, pulverizing the concrete wall right where my head had been a fraction of a second before.
I rolled across the concrete floor, my shoulder slamming hard into the ground, and came up in a low shooting stance. I pulled the trigger twice.
The first round hit Lorenzo in the left shoulder, shattering his body armor and spinning him backward against the brick wall of the alley. The second round struck the high-pressure fuel tank of the armored SUV parked behind him.
Sparks showered into the leaking fuel line.
BOOM!
The SUV’s engine block exploded in a massive fireball, sending a violent shockwave tearing down the narrow alley. The force of the explosion threw me backward into the basement, slamming my head against the cinderblock wall.
My vision went white. A high-pitched ringing roared in my ears.
I lay on the concrete floor, staring up at the ceiling as burning debris and melted snow rained down through the broken doorway. My throat was filled with the taste of copper and smoke.
I forced myself to sit up, my head spinning violently.
Through the thick, gray smoke choking the alley, I saw three surviving tactical men dragging a bleeding, screaming Lorenzo out toward the main street. They were retreating, terrified by the sudden explosion and the chaos of the burning alleyway.
"He's... in the back..." Lorenzo’s ragged voice drifted through the haze as they dragged him away. "Call the main compound... get... get fifty men down here..."
They were falling back to regroup. Which meant I had less than ten minutes before the entire force of the Vale family descended on this block.
I pushed myself off the floor, my knees trembling, and staggered toward the back of the room.
The coal chute was dark, smelling of wet rust and old coal dust.
"Arthur?" I called out, my voice thick with smoke.
"Up here, Dante!" Arthur’s raspy voice echoed down the metal shaft from twenty feet above. "Hurry! The structure is collapsing!"
I grabbed the iron handholds welded into the sides of the coal chute and began to climb. Every muscle in my arms screamed in protest, but the adrenaline surging through my veins drowned out the pain. I hauled myself up the narrow, claustrophobic tunnel, kicking through layers of soot and dirt, until I reached an open iron hatch at the top.
Strong, small hands reached down and grabbed my coat collar.
Beatrice pulled with all her strength, helping me haul my heavy frame out of the chute and onto the frozen floor of an adjacent, roofless warehouse.
I lay on my back for five seconds, drawing deep lungfuls of the icy Chicago air, clearing the smoke from my chest.
Beside me, Julian was lying on the canvas tarp, wrapped tightly in blankets. Arthur was kneeling over him, checking his weak, thready pulse.
"He's holding on," Arthur said, looking up at me, his scarred face coated in black coal dust. "But he needs a hospital, Dante. Real medicine. Sterile equipment. He won't survive another night in the cold."
I stood up, wiping the blood from a cut on my forehead.
The warehouse around us was an open shell, its roof completely gone, allowing the heavy snow to fall directly onto us. Two blocks away, I could hear the distant, wailing sirens of Chicago police cars and fire trucks rushing toward the explosion on 14th Street.
"We can't go to a public hospital," I said, my mind working with cold, mechanical speed. "Lorenzo has doctors on the family payroll at every major medical center in the city. The moment Julian’s name goes into a computer system, a hit squad will be at his bedside."
"Then where do we go?" Beatrice asked, her green eyes looking up at me, trusting me despite everything that had happened tonight.
I looked at her. I looked at my broken brother. I looked at Arthur.
"We go to the one place Lorenzo thinks I'm too smart to go," I said, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across my face.
"Where?" Arthur frowned.
"My home," I answered. "The Vale estate."
Arthur stared at me as if I had lost my mind. "Dante, that house is surrounded by fifty guards loyal to the family! Lorenzo’s command center is right inside your study!"
"The guards are loyal to the boss of the family, Arthur," I corrected him, pulling out my backup phone—a secondary secure line that Lorenzo didn't know existed. "And right now, they think I’m out hunting a thief. They don't know Lorenzo just tried to murder me in an alley."
I dialed a ten-digit number.
The line rang twice before a deep, calm voice answered. "Command center. Captain Vance."
Vance was the head of my personal house guard—a former military contractor who had served under me for six years. He was a man who answered only to cash and absolute authority.
"Vance," I said, my voice dropping into an icy command. "This is Dante."
"Boss?" Vance said, sounding confused. "Lorenzo’s team just broadcast a Code Red. They said you were compromised on the West Side—"
"Lorenzo is a traitor to the family," I interrupted, cutting him off mid-sentence. "He attempted to assassinate me thirty minutes ago. He is currently returning to the compound with a team of rogue operators."
A heavy silence fell over the line. I could hear Vance’s heavy breathing.
"What are your orders, Mr. Vale?" Vance asked quietly.
"Lock down the estate," I commanded. "Disarm every guard who was hired by Lorenzo over the last three years. Secure the private medical bay in the east wing and bring Dr. Chen up from the basement clinic. Tell him he’s preparing for critical emergency surgery."
"And when Lorenzo arrives?" Vance asked.
"If Lorenzo steps foot on my lawn," I said, looking out at the falling snow, "put him in chains in the basement. I'll be there in twenty minutes."
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I hung up the phone and looked down at Beatrice and Arthur.
"We have twenty minutes before the city is locked down," I said. "Let's go take back my family."
