Chapter 7 - Night of Fire and Iron
At 3:02 AM, a heavy storm raged over the Upstate estate, drowning the forest in blinding snow and howling wind.
Two blacked-out delivery vans pulled quietly off the country road, turning down the long, tree-lined driveway toward the private service entrance of the Vance estate. The iron gate stood wide open, its warning lights disabled.
Inside the lead van, Viktor Volkov—a scarred, heavy-set man wearing a fur-lined tactical jacket—smirked as he checked the chamber of his automatic shotgun.
“Dominic delivered,” Viktor growled to his eight armed men packed in the back. “We go in, we eliminate Vance, and we take the woman and the babies. Volkov rules New York by sunrise!”
The vans rolled through the gate, stopping near the service loading dock.
The rear doors of the first van swung open, and eight Russian mercenaries leaped out onto the snow, their weapons raised, moving toward the side entrance of the mansion.
Suddenly, the night exploded into blinding light.
Four massive halogen floodlights mounted on the estate’s roof ignited simultaneously, illuminating the courtyard as bright as high noon.
Before the mercenaries could react, the heavy steel security doors of the loading dock rolled up.
Standing inside the illuminated dock was Elias Vance, flanked by twenty fully armored tactical enforcers equipped with heavy combat gear.
“Welcome to the Vance estate, Viktor,” Elias’s voice roared over the compound’s PA system.
“FIRE!” Viktor shrieked, raising his shotgun.
A hail of high-caliber fire tore through the snowy night, but the Vance enforcers were behind bulletproof tactical shields.
From the second-floor balcony overlooking the courtyard, Knox and three snipers opened fire with surgical precision. Within forty seconds, six of Viktor’s mercenaries were down in the snow, their weapons clattering uselessly against the ice.
Viktor panicked, turning to run back toward his van, but a lone figure stepped out from behind the heavy oak double doors of the main entrance.
It was me.
I wore a dark tactical coat over my clothes, holding a heavy double-barreled shotgun Elias’s armorers had given me ten minutes prior. I didn't raise it to shoot; I raised it to make sure he knew who was watching his defeat.
Viktor froze, staring up at me in utter disbelief. “You...”
Elias walked out of the loading dock, stepping over the fallen mercenaries, his sidearm drawn. He stopped five feet behind Viktor, racking the slide of his custom pistol with a metallic click that sounded like a death sentence.
Viktor slowly dropped his shotgun into the snow, raising his shaking hands into the freezing air.
“Elias...” Viktor choked out, his arrogance completely shattered. “We... we can negotiate! My brother... Nikolai... he will pay whatever you want!”
Elias stepped up behind Viktor, leaning close to his ear, echoing the words he had spoken on the docks three weeks ago.
“Nikolai isn't coming, Viktor,” Elias whispered. “Because I bought your brother’s entire territory twenty minutes ago.”
Elias raised his weapon.
May you like
BANG.
The sound of the shot echoed off the surrounding pine trees, dying quickly in the vast, silent snowstorm.
