Chapter 2 - The Secret Passage
A tall shadow fell across the yellow light spilling onto the hallway carpet.
Sadi dragged Dante's heavy frame behind the massive leather sofa in the corner of the room.
She clamped her hand tightly over his mouth to muffle his ragged breathing.
The oak door creaked violently as it was pushed all the way open.
Two men in tailored black suits stepped into the study.
Sadi recognized one of them as Marco, the head of the night security detail.
Marco held a suppressed submachine gun and scanned the bloody room.
"He is not here," Marco said to his partner.
"Look at the amount of blood on the floor," the second man replied.
"He cannot have gone far in this condition."
Sadi pressed herself flat against the floorboards and prayed the shadows would hide them.
Dante was growing terrifyingly cold against her side.
His eyes rolled back into his head.
His chest stopped moving entirely.
Sadi realized in sheer horror that Dante Russo had just stopped breathing.
If she performed chest compressions now, the assassins would hear the noise and kill them both.
If she did nothing, the most powerful man in the city would die in her arms.
Marco took a slow step toward the leather sofa.
Sadi reached into her pocket and pulled out a heavy brass cleaning polish bottle she had brought from downstairs.
She hurled the brass bottle across the room with all her strength.
It shattered the glass window on the far side of the study.
"He went out the window to the roof!" Marco yelled.
Both assassins turned and sprinted out of the room to search the exterior grounds.
Sadi immediately rolled Dante onto his back and placed her hands over his heart.
She pushed down hard.
She counted the compressions silently in her head.
Nothing happened.
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She pushed down again with everything she had.
Dante suddenly gasped violently, his eyes flying open as air rushed back into his failing lungs.
