CHAPTER 38: THROUGH FIRE AND SILK

LAUTARO

The metallic smell of blood and diesel filled the Santiago night. Downstairs, the steady click of a silver-tipped cane against marble sounded like an executioner’s bell.

Before Beatrix could give an order, before the cross-match notification on my screen could become my death warrant, the world exploded.

BOOM.

The blast came from the northern perimeter. Every stained-glass window on the ground floor shattered. Plaster rained from the ceiling, and the force threw me sideways against the cracked doorframe.

“They’re inside!” someone shouted from the foyer.

It wasn’t my men. It wasn’t Beatrix’s militia either.

Rayén was already standing. Her dark eyes were wide, but the panic was gone. The thin blade hidden beneath her silk gown slid into her palm. She had become still in the way only someone raised around violence could.

“Who is that?” she asked over the gunfire.

“A second hit squad.”

I grabbed her elbow and pulled her back as a 7.62 round tore through the ceiling, sending dust and splinters around us.

“Someone in this house wants us dead tonight.”

“Silas?”

“No.”

I checked my phone. The screen flickered, then changed to an encrypted tactical feed.

“Silas was the decoy. Look.”

Red text flashed across the screen before the cell towers died.

TARGET CONFIRMED. ERASE BOTH SYNDICATES.

“We move now.”

I drew the suppressed pistol beneath my coat. Beatrix no longer mattered. Neither did the biometric hit linking me to the dead Thorne lineage.

My only objective was Rayén.

“Lautaro!”

We reached the oak doors leading to the terrace. I turned as a tactical operative rounded the corner, suppressor raised.

Before I could fire, Rayén moved.

She crossed the distance fast, her silk gown tearing at the thigh as she drove her blade beneath the shooter’s helmet.

He dropped.

Rayén pulled the blade free and wiped it against her hip.

“I told you, Don Errázuriz. I am no one’s pawn.”

Despite the gunfire, something tightened in my chest.

“Good,” I said. “Keep that fire. We’ll need it.”

We burst through the glass doors as an RPG crossed the night and struck the lead armored Suburban.

The explosion shook the mountain. The shockwave lifted us off our feet and slammed us against the stone balustrade.

Fire spread across the courtyard. Our security detail was dead or scattered.

We were alone.

“The secondary vehicle!”

I pulled Rayén through the smoke toward the reinforced sedan beneath the stone archway.

I pushed her into the passenger seat, slammed the door, and reached the driver’s side as machine-gun fire tore into the pillars above us.

I reversed hard.

The sedan smashed through the estate gates and shot onto the winding mountain road toward Santiago.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

I checked the rearview mirror.

The estate burned behind us.

Then three sets of blacked-out headlights appeared on the mountain road.

They ignited together and began closing the distance.

“The ambush isn’t over,” Rayén said.

“No.”

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

“It just moved to the open road.”

The tires screamed as I pushed the car through another turn. Rayén reached for the dashboard, steadying herself while watching the road ahead.

“Tell me what’s happening.”

“I don’t know who planted the device.”

“But you know someone planned this.”

“Yes.”

She looked at me. “And you still think getting me out is the only thing that matters?”

I kept my eyes on the road.

“Yes.”

The answer came too quickly. Her expression changed, but she said nothing.

Another burst of bullets struck the rear window. The reinforced glass cracked but held.

“Lautaro!”

“I have it.”

I turned sharply, forcing the first pursuing vehicle wide. Its tires slipped on the wet road before the driver regained control.

The second vehicle moved into our lane.

“They’re trying to box us in,” Rayén said.

“I see them.”

I accelerated.

The bridge was only a few hundred meters away.

Rain hammered the windshield. The wipers struggled to keep the glass clear.

Rayén suddenly reached across and grabbed my arm.

“Look.”

A dark shape stood on the bridge ahead.

I narrowed my eyes.

It was a vehicle parked across part of the road.

An ambush.

I hit the brakes, but the sedan continued sliding on the wet asphalt.

“Brace yourself.”

Rayén grabbed the door.

The parked vehicle opened fire.

Rounds struck the hood and windshield.

I swerved left, barely avoiding the first barricade.

The sedan spun.

The red light beneath the dashboard blinked again.

Three seconds.

I understood then.

The device wasn’t meant to stop us on the road.

It was meant to force us onto the bridge.

“Lautaro?” Rayén whispered.

I looked at her.

“Trust me.”

She nodded.

Two seconds.

I reached across the console and pulled her toward me.

One second.

The world disappeared in fire.

I knew the bridge was our only route, but the headlights behind us felt wrong. They were too coordinated. Too patient.

Someone had studied our escape before we left the estate.

Rayén stared through the side window.

“They knew where we were going.”

“Yes.”

“Then this was never a random attack.”

“No.”

Her jaw tightened.

“Who wants both syndicates erased?”

“That is what I intend to find out.”

The road narrowed ahead. The mountain rose on one side, the drop falling into darkness on the other.

I tightened my grip.

“We survive first. Questions come later.”

Rayén looked at me.

“Don’t die before I get my answers.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

The word left my mouth before I could think about what it meant.

Then the vehicle accelerated.

Its headlights filled the mirrors.

I pressed the accelerator.

The bridge came closer.

And beneath the dashboard, the red countdown began.