Chapter 12
The crunch of heavy tires on the gravel driveway broke the absolute silence of the estate. The three dark transport vans rolled through the open, wrought-iron gates, moving at a slow, predatory crawl. They parked in the center of the expansive courtyard, entirely oblivious to the dozens of weapons tracking their every movement from the darkened windows of the mansion.
The rear doors of the vans swung open. Forty men poured out into the moonlight. They were dressed in black tactical gear, carrying heavy assault weapons and breaching tools. They moved with a hurried, chaotic urgency, clearly expecting to overwhelm a distracted security detail.
"Form up on the main doors!" the Moretti strike leader hissed aggressively, signaling his men forward. "Breach and clear the ground floor! Find the Don!"
The strike team advanced across the open courtyard, completely exposed. They reached the massive mahogany front doors of the estate. The leader raised a heavy breaching ram, preparing to smash the lock.
He never got the chance.
"Light them up," Orson whispered into his comms earpiece.
The darkness of the estate erupted. Blinding, high-intensity tactical strobe lights bolted to the exterior walls flared to life, completely blinding the advancing Moretti forces. Simultaneously, the Bellori capos unleashed a devastating, coordinated barrage of automatic gunfire from the upper balconies and ground-floor windows.
The courtyard instantly became a slaughterhouse.
The deafening roar of gunfire shattered the quiet night. The Moretti strike team, caught completely off guard and fully illuminated in the open courtyard, had absolutely nowhere to run. They fell in droves, shredded by the relentless, intersecting fields of fire before they could even raise their weapons to retaliate.
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"Fall back! It's a trap!" the strike leader screamed, diving behind the tires of a transport van.
But there was no retreat. Marcus and a secondary squad of Bellori operators had already moved through the service tunnels, emerging behind the vans and completely cutting off the only exit.
