Chapter 5 - The Raid on Lake Forest
"Intruders on the north ridge," Santino’s voice cracked through the house intercom system, cutting through the thunder. "Six shooters, heavily armed. They have thermal scopes."
Marco’s entire demeanor shifted in a microsecond. The gentle man who had just touched Clara's face disappeared, replaced by the ruthless commander of the Outfit. He reached under the kitchen counter and pulled out a sleek, black submachine gun, chambering a round with a metallic clack.
"Clara, get Mia. Go to the safe room behind the wine cellar. Now!" Marco ordered, his voice commanding absolute obedience.
Clara didn't hesitate. Her nursing instincts took over—panic was a luxury she couldn't afford. She ran up the back stairs, her shoulder screaming in protest, and burst into Mia’s room. The little girl was already sitting up, terrified by the flashing red lights.
"Clara!" Mia cried.
"I’ve got you, baby. Come on," Clara lifted the child with her right arm, ignoring the tearing sensation in her left shoulder, and rushed down the service elevator toward the basement.
Outside, the forest was alive with muzzle flashes. Vittorio Valenti’s elite hit squad had breached the outer gates using silencers, but Marco’s men were prepared. The sound of high-caliber gunfire began to echo through the stone walls of the mansion.
Clara reached the wine cellar, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She found the hidden panel behind a rack of vintage Barolo, pressing her palm against the biometric scanner Marco had registered her into just three days prior. The stone wall swung open with a heavy groan, revealing a concrete room filled with monitors, water rations, and first-aid supplies.
She pulled Mia inside and closed the door just as a heavy explosion shook the upper floors.
On the monitors, Clara could see the battle unfolding in real-time. Marco was a force of nature. He moved through the smoky hallways of his home with lethal precision, dropping two attackers before they could even raise their weapons. Santino was covering his flank, his face smeared with soot and blood.
But the Valentis were desperate. A third group of attackers had entered through the greenhouse, and they were heading straight for the basement stairs.
"They know about the safe room," Clara whispered, her eyes fixed on the screen showing three men in tactical gear descending the stone steps. One of them carried a heavy thermite charge meant for breaching steel doors.
Mia was sobbing into Clara's lap. "Is Daddy going to die?"
"No," Clara said, her voice hard as steel. "Your daddy is fighting for you. And I’m going to make sure they don't get through this door."
Clara looked around the safe room. There were no guns—Marco had kept the weapons out of the room to ensure Mia would never touch them. But there was a heavy medical kit, including surgical scalpels, syringes of concentrated epinephrine, and a large pressurized oxygen tank.
She remembered her training: An explosion in a confined space multiplies the force of the blast by ten.
She grabbed the oxygen tank, dragging it with her one good arm toward the heavy iron inner latch of the bunker door. She cracked the valve open, letting the highly flammable gas hiss into the small vestibule outside the inner seal. Then she took a box of matches from the emergency rations, her fingers steady despite the chaos outside.
On the monitor, the Valenti hitman placed the thermite charge against the outer stone wall.
"Hold your ears, Mia," Clara said, her voice a calm whisper.
May you like
The moment the hitman ignited the thermite, the spark caught the escaping oxygen gas in the vestibule. A massive, blue-hot backdraft explosion ripped through the outer hallway, throwing the attackers backward into the stone walls, their weapons scattering across the floor.
Through the monitor, Clara saw Marco and Santino appear at the top of the stairs, cleaning up the remaining dazed attackers. Marco looked at the camera lens of the safe room, his face covered in sweat and ash, his eyes filled with a mixture of terror and profound awe. He knew exactly what she had done.
