Chapter 11 - AMBUSH IN THE DARK|
My heart slammed against my ribs like a sledgehammer. The heavy air inside the basement felt freezing cold.
There were at least three men upstairs, their boots heavy against the old hardwood floorboards.
"Check the basement," another voice barked from the kitchen doorway.
Enzo didn't hesitate. He pulled me close to his chest, whispering directly into my hair. "Stay behind the brick furnace. Do not move, no matter what you hear."
He unclipped a dark tactical knife from his belt and vanished into the shadows of the basement like a phantom.
A flashlight beam cut through the darkness from the top of the basement stairs. A gunman dressed in a rain poncho slowly descended the creaking wood steps, holding a suppressed pistol in front of him.
"Clear," the gunman called out quietly to his partner above.
He stepped off the last stair, sweeping his light across the furnace.
Before his beam could reach my hiding spot, Enzo emerged from the pitch-black shadow behind the coal chute.
He clamped one hand over the gunman’s mouth, driving the blade smoothly into the assailant's neck joint. The man gave a muffled gasp, his eyes wide with horror, before going completely limp in Enzo's arms.
Enzo caught the falling flashlight before it hit the concrete floor, catching the gunman’s pistol in his other hand.
"Hey! Tony! What’s taking so long?" a second gunman yelled from the top of the stairs, stepping down into the doorway.
Enzo raised the suppressed pistol and fired twice into the darkness.
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PHFFT! PHFFT!
The second man collapsed down the entire flight of stairs, slamming hard onto the concrete floor right in front of my feet.
