Chapter 5 - The Third Floor ExtractionWhile the ballroom music echoed through the lower floors of the Maritime Center, Jisoo slipped past the security velvet ropes near the west stairwell.
She had discarded her emerald silk dress train, unhooking the long skirt to reveal dark, form-fitting tactical trousers that had been cleverly concealed beneath the formal gown. She pulled a pair of dark leather gloves from her clutch bag and pulled her hair back into a tight braid.
She moved through the third-floor corridor like a shadow—silent, fast, and entirely invisible to the camera feeds that Enzo was currently jamming from a van parked outside.
She reached room 304—Volkov’s private office.
Two heavily armed Russian mercenaries stood guard near the oak double doors.
Jisoo didn't hesitate. She stepped out from the hallway alcove before they could even draw their weapons.
Thud. Crack.
In four seconds, using precise pressure point strikes and lethal leverage, both guards collapsed unconscious onto the carpeted floor without uttering a single sound.
Jisoo stepped over their bodies, slipped a digital lock bypass tool into the electronic keycard slot, and opened the door.
Inside, the room was dimly lit, featuring a massive oak desk, leather sofas, and a high-security digital safe mounted inside the wall.
She rushed to the safe, attaching an encryption bypass device to the lock interface. The digital screen flashed yellow, then green, and the heavy steel door clicked open.
Inside lay three thick black folders, a hardware cryptocurrency wallet containing thirty million dollars, and an audio recording device containing Volkov’s private wiretaps—including the order he had given four years ago to ambush Jisoo’s unit near the DMZ.
"I have the ledger," Jisoo whispered into her hidden comms earpiece.
Suddenly, the lights inside the office went completely dark.
The emergency sirens began to blare across the building.
"Jisoo! Get out of there!" Raffaele’s voice crackled through her earpiece, laced with sudden, intense panic. "Volkov’s team swept the security feed manually! He knows someone breached the room!"
The heavy oak doors of the office were kicked open with violent force.
Four mercenaries armed with automatic submachine guns burst into the room, spraying bullets across the furniture.
Jisoo vaulted over the oak desk, grabbing the leather folders and the hardware wallet, returning fire with her suppressed 9mm pistol. Two mercenaries fell immediately, but the remaining two pinned her behind the desk, advancing with heavy fire.
Suddenly, a massive figure charged through the doorway behind the mercenaries.
Raffaele dropped the lead shooter with a devastating right hook, grabbed the second mercenary by his vest, and slammed him through the glass coffee table, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
He rushed behind the desk, grabbing Jisoo by her waist and pulling her against his chest as bullets chipped the wood above their heads.
"You took your time, Mr. Mosca," Jisoo panted, checking her pistol magazine.
"I had to find a quiet way up the stairs," Raffaele smirked, pulling his own custom silver revolver from his holster. "Are you hurt?"
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"I'm fine," she smiled, her heart hammering not from fear, but from the electric adrenaline of fighting alongside a man who moved with the exact same lethal rhythm as she did.
"Then let's go collect our debt," Raffaele said, reaching out to take her hand.
