Chapter 14 - The Geneva Protocol
We remained locked inside the suffocating panic room for exactly three hours before daring to open the steel door.
The beautiful Sicilian villa had been completely reduced to a smoking, bullet-riddled ruin.
Maso was sitting against the ruined kitchen wall, clutching a severe bullet wound in his side, but he was miraculously alive.
Alessandro helped his loyal friend to a hidden medical cache, his face entirely devoid of emotion.
He had transitioned from a loving husband back into the ruthless, calculating mafia boss I had married.
A burner phone sitting on the destroyed dining table suddenly buzzed, vibrating violently against the cracked wood.
Alessandro answered it and put it on speakerphone, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought his teeth might shatter.
The Tsar’s cold, heavily accented voice echoed through the ruined room, dripping with arrogant satisfaction.
He confirmed that Elena was currently on a private jet heading to a secure Bratva compound in London.
The Tsar stated that she would remain completely unharmed, provided we completed a specific task for the syndicate.
He demanded that we travel to Geneva, Switzerland, and infiltrate the most secure private bank in the world.
My father had hidden a specialized ledger inside an impenetrable safety deposit box before he faked his death.
The ledger contained the access codes to a massive network of untraceable cryptocurrency accounts funding the Bratva.
The Tsar explained that the vault was protected by a century-old, purely mechanical locking mechanism.
It could not be hacked by computers, nor could it be blown open without incinerating the delicate paper inside.
The only person on earth with the genetic skill and the jeweler's precision to pick the lock was me.
If I successfully delivered the ledger to London within forty-eight hours, the Tsar would release Elena and my father.
If I failed, or if we attempted to contact the authorities, he would send us both of their heads in a wooden box.
The line went dead, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in the destroyed villa.
I looked at Alessandro, expecting him to forbid me from stepping into such an incredibly dangerous heist.
Instead, he walked into the master bedroom and returned with a heavy, black tactical duffel bag.
He unzipped it, revealing a stunning array of forged passports, untraceable cash, and my father's original jeweler's tool kit.
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He looked me dead in the eyes and asked if I was ready to steal from the most dangerous men on the planet.
I picked up my father's familiar steel awl, slipped it into my pocket, and nodded.
