Chapter 4 - The Betrayal WithinThe tactical breach was met with instantaneous, overwhelming violence.
Elias and the two surviving enforcers opened fire from the fortified angles of the bathroom doorway, their suppressed weapons hammering a rhythmic, deadly tattoo. Two of the intruders dropped instantly, their body armor failing against close-range armor-piercing rounds.
The third operative managed to swing his barrel toward Damian, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Before Damian could fire, a blur of movement shot from the corner of the room. Clara lunged forward with terrifying precision. She drove the jagged, sharpened end of the wooden mop handle directly into the mercenary’s unprotected throat, spinning him off balance before slamming his head hard against the edge of the steel medical cart.
The man collapsed like a sack of wet cement, unconscious before he hit the floor.
Silence descended on the room once more, broken only by the steady beep of Leo’s heart monitor and the ragged breathing of the defenders.
Damian lowered his smoking Glock, stepping over the fallen intruder. He looked down at Clara, who was calmly wiping a smear of gunsmoke off her cheek with the back of her wrist.
“You’re terrifying, Clara,” Damian said, a dangerous, appreciative smile touching the corner of his mouth.
“I’m just thorough,” she replied flatly.
She walked over to the man she had incapacitated, reached into his tactical vest, and pulled out a encrypted military-grade radio receiver. The device was blinking with a green satellite link.
“They aren't random cartel hitmen,” Clara said, holding up the device. “This encryption belongs to private military contractors. Blackwood Security.”
Damian’s eyes flared with cold, concentrated rage.
Blackwood Security. The firm run by Samuel, his own head of security.
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“Samuel,” Damian whispered, the name tasting like poison on his tongue. “The rat didn't just sell out the shipping lanes. He orchestrated the hit on my son to destabilize the syndicate from within.”
Damian tapped his comms. “Elias. Secure the perimeter, leave two men here, and bring a clean vehicle around to the basement. We are going home. And call Luca—tell him to pay a very special, very permanent visit to Samuel’s estate in Long Island.”
