Chapter 8 - The Hidden Passage
Clara could not breathe as she watched Bianca press the cold gun to Matteo's head.
She knew she had to do something, but she had no weapon and no training.
Lily clung to her arm, crying silently in the freezing darkness of the pine trees.
Then, Clara remembered a heavily guarded secret she had discovered while cleaning the estate.
The rural safe house was built directly on top of an old bootlegger smuggling tunnel.
The tunnel exit was hidden beneath a large, rusted iron grate just a few feet from where Bianca was standing.
Clara looked down at the massive dog standing faithfully beside her.
"Bruno," Clara whispered, pointing a shaking finger toward the iron grate in the snow.
She didn't know if the dog would understand a complex tactical command.
But Bruno was terrifyingly intelligent, and he recognized the woman threatening his master.
The Cane Corso did not bark or growl.
He slipped through the dark trees like a silent, deadly ghost.
Bianca laughed cruelly, leaning down to whisper something into Matteo's ear.
She never saw the massive black shadow leaping from the tree line.
Bruno hit Bianca with the force of a freight train, completely ignoring the armed men around her.
His heavy jaws clamped down on her wrist, crushing bone and forcing her to drop the silver pistol.
Bianca screamed in agony as the dog dragged her violently into the snow.
The sudden, brutal attack threw the armed men into total chaos.
Matteo did not waste the miraculous distraction.
He grabbed the fallen silver pistol from the snow and fired three rapid shots, dropping the closest guards.
He whistled sharply, calling Bruno back to his side.
The dog released the weeping woman and sprinted back to his master.
Matteo grabbed Bianca by the collar of her expensive coat and hauled her to her feet.
He used her as a human shield, pressing the barrel of her own gun against her temple.
"Drop your weapons, or your boss loses her head," Matteo commanded the remaining men.
The snipers and guards hesitated, slowly lowering their rifles into the snow.
Clara ran out from the trees with Lily, rushing to Matteo's side.
Matteo was bleeding heavily from his shoulder, his face pale from the massive blood loss.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Clara panicked, tearing a piece of her shirt to press against his wound.
"No hospitals," Matteo groaned, his vision starting to blur.
"Take us to the underground vault at the main estate," he ordered his arriving backup team.
They shoved Bianca into the trunk of a car and sped away into the night.
Clara held Matteo in her arms the entire ride, terrified that he would close his eyes and never open them again.
They finally reached the massive, impenetrable steel vault hidden beneath Matteo's mansion.
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But as the heavy door sealed shut behind them, Clara noticed a blinking red light on the vault's control panel.
Someone had initiated the vault's self-destruct sequence, and the timer showed exactly three minutes remaining.
