Chapter 14 - The Red Dot
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Click.
The tiny laser beam flickered against Nicholas’s dark jacket.
Years of survival instinct kicked in before the shot was even fired. Nicholas instantly grabbed Maria, diving behind the thick concrete balustrade just as a suppressed rifle round shattered the glass terrace doors behind them.
Shards of glass rained down like hail.
“Down!” Nicholas roared, shielding Maria’s body with his own.
Inside the house, alarms blared loudly.
Marco and four guards burst into the suite, guns drawn. “Boss! Are you hit?”
“I’m fine!” Nicholas yelled over the sirens. “The tree line! West side of the perimeter! Get the sniper!”
Marco barked orders into his radio as two guards rushed to secure Maria, escorting her down into the mansion’s reinforced steel safe room beneath the basement.
Down in the safe room, Lucy was already sitting on a leather sofa, rubbing her eyes, holding her stuffed bear.
“Mama?” Lucy asked softly. “Are the bad guys back?”
Maria knelt before her daughter, holding her tight, her heart pounding against her ribs. “No, baby. Uncle Nicholas is handling it.”
Above ground, Nicholas sprinted through the dark rose garden, carrying a high-powered rifle, flanked by Marco and six heavily armed men.
Near the iron fence on the west perimeter, a figure in dark tactical gear was attempting to scale the wall.
“Don't kill him!” Nicholas ordered.
Marco fired two precise shots. The sniper dropped from the fence, screaming in pain as two bullets pierced his calves.
Nicholas walked over, kicking the sniper’s rifle away, and pressed the hot barrel of his gun against the assassin’s throat.
“Who sent you?” Nicholas demanded, his voice chillingly calm.
The assassin spat blood, coughing violently. “Vane... Vane said... ten million for your head, Caruso...”
“Tell Vane he wasted his money,” Nicholas replied coldly, pulling out his phone and dialing a number.
He put the phone on speaker and held it near the dying assassin.
“Dominic Vane,” Nicholas spoke into the phone. “I have your boy.”
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A raspy, elderly voice responded from the speaker. “Caruso... you should have given me the locket. Now I’m going to burn your mansion to the ground.”
“Come try,” Nicholas said quietly. “I’ll be waiting at the docks at midnight.”
