Chapter 36 - The Shadow Hunt
Luca moved with an efficiency that defied his injuries. Within seconds, he was on his feet, ignoring the agony in his stitched shoulder as he chambered a round into his sidearm.
"How many, Leo?" Luca demanded, his voice entirely free of panic.
"Six. Maybe eight," Leo replied, wiping rain and sweat from his forehead. "Professional gear. Night vision, suppressors, tactical armor. They're moving up the trail toward the ruins right now."
"They're Matteo's private praetorians," Luca said grimly. "They don't take prisoners. If they trap us down here in this crypt, they'll flush us with thermite or gas."
"Is there another way out?" I asked, grabbing the medical satchel and checking the small caliber handgun Luca had given me back in the mansion's bunker.
"The ossuary tunnels," Luca nodded toward a low, arched portal half-concealed behind a crumbling altar at the far end of the crypt. "They lead through the cliffside to the old smuggling caves above the water. But the terrain is unstable."
"Unstable is better than being executed," Leo muttered.
"Leo, take point," Luca ordered, his authority returning like an iron mantle. "Elena, stay between us. If we are engaged, do not stop to fire back unless you have no choice. Run for the high ridge."
We slipped through the low archway just as the heavy thud of combat boots echoed from the flagstones of the chapel above.
The tunnel was narrow, damp, and claustrophobic, lined with centuries-old niche graves where ancient bones jutted from the crumbling mortar like brittle twigs. The air grew colder, thick with the smell of wet earth and sea salt.
Suddenly, a beam of harsh tactical light flickered against the ceiling behind us.
*Crack!*
A suppressed shot chipped the stone inches above Luca’s head, showering his hair in white limestone dust.
"Move!" Luca snarled, shoving me ahead of him.
We sprinted through the darkness, our boots splashing through puddles of stagnant condensation. Behind us, heavy footsteps rapidly closed the distance. The mercenaries knew the ground, their footsteps deliberate, fast, and coordinated.
A shadow darted around a bend in the tunnel ahead of Leo—a point scout attempting to flank our route.
"Look out!" I screamed.
The scout leveled an MP5 submachine gun directly at Leo's chest. Leo froze for a split second, caught off guard by the ambush.
Without thinking, driven by a primal terror for my brother’s life, I raised the small revolver in my hands and pulled the trigger.
The gunshot in the enclosed stone corridor was deafening. The recoil snapped my wrists upward, the muzzle flash blinding me for a fraction of a second. The mercenary stumbled backward, clutching his throat, his weapon discharging wildly into the ceiling before he collapsed into the puddle with a hollow splash.
My ears rang violently. My hands trembled so hard the gun nearly slipped from my fingers. I had never shot a man before. The reality of what I had done slammed into my chest like a physical blow.
Luca was beside me in an instant. His good arm wrapped around my shoulders, steadying me with fierce, unyielding force. "Do not look down, Elena," he commanded into my ear, his tone hard as diamond yet laced with an undeniable pride. "You saved your brother. Now keep moving!"
May you like
We leaped over the fallen scout, bursting through the end of the tunnel into the blinding gray daylight of a sheer cliff ledge three hundred feet above the raging sea.
***
