Chapter 4 - The Firefight in the Tenement
— Get under the bed, Alessandro ordered Margaret, his tone razor-sharp.
— Daddy? Annie asked, her big eyes wide with sudden confusion.
It was the first time she had called him that. The word pierced straight through his armor, locking his jaw in a cold, furious resolve.
— Stay with Grandma, Annie. Close your eyes and count to twenty, Alessandro whispered, pressing a kiss to her damp curls. I'll be right back.
He stepped out of the bedroom into the narrow hallway, drawing his pistol as the shadows at the front entrance shifted.
The door was kicked open with a splintering crash.
Two men in heavy tactical gear, faces half-concealed by black balaclavas, poured through the doorway, automatic rifles raised.
Alessandro didn't hesitate. Two rapid shots cracked through the cramped hallway like thunder. The lead gunman dropped instantly, his rifle clattering against the floorboards. The second man dove behind the living room sofa, screaming orders in Russian into his radio.
From the front steps, Marco and two other Moretti enforcers returned heavy suppressing fire, turning the hallway into a war zone of flying plaster and shattered glass.
— Flush them out! a gruff voice shouted from the landing outside. Burn the building!
Alessandro stepped around the corner, his pistol barking twice more through the smoke. The second gunman slumped over the sofa, lifeless.
— Boss! Marco yelled, kicking the front door fully open. We're surrounded! They blocked both ends of the alley with SUVs!
Alessandro’s mind raced with tactical precision. There was no way out through the front. The fire escape in the back led straight into an open courtyard exposed to sniper fire.
He keyed his radio earpiece.
— Get the armored Suburban up to the rear courtyard wall. Ram the chain-link fence. Have Dr. Vance waiting inside for a geriatric medical transfer.
— Done, Boss! Marco shouted over the roar of gunfire. Move!
Alessandro rushed back into the bedroom. Margaret was shaking violently, clutching Annie tightly to her chest. The little girl had her eyes squeezed shut, exactly as he had asked.
— We're going for a ride, Annie, Alessandro said, sweeping her up into one arm while using his free hand to hoist Margaret gently to her feet. Hold on to me.
They burst through the back window onto the rusted fire escape just as a Molotov cocktail crashed through the living room window, igniting the apartment in a wall of orange flames.
Bullets pinged off the metal railing as Alessandro shielded his family with his own body, descending the steps three at a time into the smoke-filled courtyard.
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The heavy grille of the black Suburban smashed through the chain-link fence just in time, its armored doors flying open. Marco laid down a deafening wall of automatic fire from the roof hatch, pinning the Russian enforcers behind a dumpster.
Alessandro bundled Margaret and Annie into the armored interior, sliding in after them as the vehicle slammed into reverse and tore out into the night.
