Chapter 6 - The Shadow In The Alley
By seven that evening, Sadie had successfully transcribed all forty-eight characters of the hidden Moretti banking codes onto a secure, encrypted flash drive.
Callum stood at his vault desk, staring at the numbers displayed on his laptop screen.
“Forty-two million dollars,” Callum announced quietly. “Spread across three private trusts in Zurich. With these keys, I can liquidate the Moretti family’s entire slush fund by sunrise.”
“Which means they won't have the money to pay their mercenaries,” Sadie concluded, leaning back in her chair with a feeling of deep satisfaction.
“Exactly,” Callum said. He closed his laptop and picked up the flash drive, sliding it into his pocket. “You’ve done brilliant work today, Sadie.”
Before Sadie could answer, the security intercom on the wall beeped loudly.
Marcus’s voice came through the speaker, tight and urgent. “Boss. We’ve got a problem at the perimeter.”
Callum’s dark eyes flashed with instant danger. He hit the wall button. “Report.”
“Two dark sedans just pulled up into the alley outside the rear gate,” Marcus reported over the static. “Four armed men stepped out. One of them matches the description of the guy from the train station—red spider tattoo on his hand.”
Sadie’s stomach plummeted into a cold abyss. “They found us.”
“They didn't find us,” Callum said coldly, reaching into his desk drawer and pulling out a sleek black Sig Sauer pistol, checking the chamber with a practiced click. “They were tipped off by someone at the auction house who knew I brought you here.”
He walked over to Sadie, grabbing her arm and pulling her up from her chair. He pulled a second, smaller gun from his waistband and pressed it into her hand.
“Do you know how to use this?” Callum asked, his voice dead serious.
Sadie looked at the cold, heavy metal of the small revolver. “Point and pull the trigger.”
“Disengage the safety first,” Callum corrected, flipping a small lever near the grip with his thumb. “Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to kill someone. Follow me.”
He led her out of the subterranean vault into a hidden service tunnel that ran beneath the brownstone’s foundation. The tunnel was cold, dark, and smelled of damp brick.
Above them, muffled pops echoed through the stone ceiling—the distinct sound of silenced gunfire echoing in the upper courtyard.
“Marcus is holding the alley,” Callum whispered as they moved quickly through the low brick corridor. “We take the emergency vehicle in the sub-garage.”
Sadie limped beside him, her leg throbbing, but fear kept her moving. She kept her eyes glued to Callum’s broad back as he moved through the shadows like a predator in its native habitat.
They reached a heavy reinforced steel door at the end of the tunnel. Callum entered a five-digit code into a illuminated key pad.
The lock clicked open.
Before Callum could push the door open, a dark figure stepped out from the shadows of the adjacent boiler room.
It was the man from the train platform.
He was massive, wearing a leather jacket, his right hand covered in dark blue ink depicting a sprawling red spider. In his hand was a heavy hunting knife.
“Russo,” the man growled, a ugly sneer breaking across his scarred face. “Drop the gun, or I open your appraiser’s neck.”
May you like
Before the man could move, Sadie didn't hesitate.
She raised her small revolver with both hands, disengaged the safety just as Callum had showed her, and fired straight into the man’s thigh.
