Semua Bab DEADLY FACADE: I Became His Obsession : Bab 171 - Bab 180

Vincenzo’s POVThe first heavier rounds tore through the leaves overhead like a chainsaw. I shoved Lenny down behind the thick oak as the north tree line lit up with muzzle flashes. These were not the compact pistols and short rifles the earlier teams had carried. This element had brought a light machine gun and at least one designated marksman. The Irish high command had stopped playing with soft targets and numbers. They wanted the primary pair erased in a single, loud statement.Bark exploded beside my head. I returned fire in controlled bursts, aiming for the muzzle flashes. Luca’s team shifted west to avoid being pinned. Francesca’s earlier warning had been accurate—they were trying to fix us against the white house so the crossfire would finish what the first wave had started.Lenny stayed exactly on my left, her shoulder brushing mine every time we moved. She fired in the gaps I left her, short and precise. A round kicked up dirt at her knee. She didn’t flinch. She simply adjus

Lenny’s POV The van screamed north under full dark. Eleven minutes had already become nine. Francesca’s laptop glowed in the passenger seat, the live feeds from the secondary safe-house cameras flickering between empty street views and the two dark vehicles parked half a block away. No movement yet from the hit team. They were waiting for the right window— exactly the way the Irish had waited at Caroline’s white house. I clutched the duffel with the hard drive and the printed list like it might vanish. Vincenzo’s last order still echoed in my head: Get the list secured and get Caroline out. That is the only priority. The private channel to him remained nothing but static and the distant, broken sounds of gunfire. Francesca’s voice was clipped. “First intercept team is ninety seconds from the block. Second team is coming in from the opposite side. We hit them before they breach.” “And Vincenzo?” “Luca’s still on the pier. The cannery is hot. They’re holding, but it’s ugly. We can

Lenny’s POV I saw the blood first even through the smoke and the strobing muzzle flashes, the dark wetness spreading under Vincenzo’s left arm was impossible to miss. He was still on his feet, still shooting from behind a stack of rusted barrels, but the way he braced the rifle told me the shoulder was bad. Something cold and absolute settled in my chest. Francesca’s voice was low beside me. “We clear a path to him first. Then we extract. Luca’s team is still holding the road choke, but they won’t last another five minutes without relief.” The cannery floor was a nightmare of shadows, spent brass, and bodies. The new collector’s men had numbers, but they didn’t have the same reason to keep breathing that we did. I stayed low, using the conveyor supports the way Vincenzo had taught me, and put two rounds into a shooter who tried to take an angle on Francesca’s flank. She answered by dropping the man who rose behind him. We a

Lenny’s POV The lodge sat in a clearing surrounded by dense pine, exactly the kind of place pure-blood captains used to disappear to when they wanted to hunt animals or people without witnesses. I stared at it through the night-vision binoculars from our position on the ridge. Two vehicles in the drive. Lights burning in the lower windows, no obvious sentries on the porch, which only meant they were deeper in the trees. Vincenzo’s voice was low beside me. “Four heat signatures inside. One matching Rico’s build on the ground floor, east room. Two moving on the main level. One stationary upstairs.” “The collector?” I asked. “Possibly… Or another babysitter. We won’t know until we’re inside.” Francesca’s voice came through the earpiece. “Drone is in position. No external patrols visible. You’re clear for approach on the west tree line. Luca’s team is ready to cut the road if anyone runs.”

Lenny’s POV The explosion bloomed orange against the night sky in the direction of Giovanni’s residence. I saw it through the rear window of our SUV while Francesca drove and Rico sat cuffed and bleeding on the floor at my feet. My stomach dropped hard. “Francesca—tell me that wasn’t the house.” Her hands stayed steady on the wheel, but her voice was tight. “It was close enough. Perimeter cameras are still dark. The four men we left there aren’t responding on any channel. Luca is already redirecting two teams, but we’re twenty minutes out even at this speed.” Rico laughed under his breath, the sound wet and ugly. “Your uncle’s burning, Lenny. How’s that for full circle? The same family that used you is eating itself alive.” I pressed the muzzle of my pistol against his knee. “One more word about family and I test how much of you the dead-man switch actually needs.” He shut up. The capsule inside him stayed th