Chapter 5 - The Red Blueprint
The suffocating darkness of the estate felt like a heavy, physical weight pressing down on their chests.
Vincent knew the layout of his own fortress flawlessly, but the silence was completely unnatural.
Clara moved with the lethal, silent efficiency of a highly trained soldier, covering Matteo's wheelchair with a dark blanket.
She ordered Vincent to keep his flashlight turned off because the beam would make them an easy target for night-vision scopes.
A faint, metallic click echoed from the far end of the long marble hallway outside the bedroom.
It was the unmistakable sound of a heavy assault rifle safety being quietly disengaged.
Vincent positioned himself on the right side of the doorway, raising his suppressed pistol to eye level.
Clara drew a long, serrated combat knife from her boot and flattened herself against the left wall.
The bedroom door slowly creaked open, revealing the dark silhouette of a heavily armed mercenary.
The man stepped into the room, sweeping the area with a green laser sight attached to his weapon.
Before the laser could find Matteo, Clara lunged forward from the absolute darkness.
She drove her knife precisely into the vulnerable gap between the man's tactical helmet and his body armor.
The mercenary collapsed instantly without making a single sound, dropping his rifle onto the thick carpet.
Clara quickly dragged the heavy body fully into the room and closed the door to hide the evidence.
Vincent knelt beside the dead man and expertly searched the tactical pockets of his combat vest.
He pulled out a folded piece of thick, laminated paper and clicked on a small red penlight to examine it.
It was a highly detailed architectural blueprint of the Rossi estate, complete with secret ventilation shafts and hidden panic rooms.
Matteo's bedroom was circled heavily in bright red ink, marked as the primary tactical target of the night.
Vincent felt his heart completely stop beating as he looked at the bottom right corner of the document.
May you like
The blueprint was officially stamped and signed by the original architect who had designed the fortress.
The signature belonged to Vincent's supposedly loyal, deceased wife.
