Chapter 13 - Flight Through the Fog
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The forest was cloaked in a dense, freezing fog as Lorenzo’s men carried Matteo on a portable tactical stretcher through the thick underbrush.
Elina ran beside them, carrying a terrified Mia, her lungs burning with every breath. Nina followed closely behind, monitoring Matteo’s vitals on the move. The sound of heavy tires crushing gravel echoed from the main road behind them. Carmine’s men had arrived at the cabin.
"They breached the house!" Lorenzo yelled, looking back at the flashes of flashlights cutting through the fog. "They’re tracking us! Move faster!"
"I can't!" Nina gasped, stumbling over an exposed root.
Gunfire erupted from the tree line. The bullets whipped past their heads, chewing into the pine trees with devastating force. Carmine’s hit squad was closing the distance, using night-vision goggles to hunt them in the dark.
"Take cover!" Lorenzo roared.
The two guards carrying Matteo dropped behind a massive fallen oak tree, setting the stretcher down gently. Elina dove into the freezing mud, covering Mia with her own body as the crossfire erupted.
Lorenzo and his three remaining men returned fire, trying to hold the line, but they were heavily outgunned.
"We're pinned down!" Lorenzo shouted over the deafening noise. "The chopper is still a mile away!"
Matteo groaned on the stretcher, reaching a trembling hand toward his waistband. He had forced Lorenzo to give him a pistol before they left the cabin.
"Lorenzo," Matteo rasped, his voice weak but filled with absolute authority. "Give me a covering burst. I’ll take out their flank."
"Boss, you can barely sit up!" Lorenzo argued.
"Do it!" Matteo commanded.
Lorenzo gritted his teeth and signaled his men. They stood up and unleashed a massive, coordinated barrage of suppressive fire toward the enemy positions.
Matteo used the distraction to roll off the stretcher, propping his broken body against the oak tree. His hands were shaking, but his aim was legendary. He fired three precise shots into the fog.
Three of Carmine’s men screamed and dropped.
The enemy fire paused, disoriented by the sudden, lethal accuracy from a man they thought was a vegetable.
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"Move!" Matteo yelled, collapsing back onto the mud, completely drained. "Get them to the chopper!"
Lorenzo’s men grabbed the stretcher, hauling it up, and sprinted through the gap Matteo had created. Elina scrambled to her feet, running on pure adrenaline, refusing to look back as they vanished into the dense, foggy woods.
