Chapter 3 - The Ghost of the Brother's Blood

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With the silence of practiced phantoms, Emily and I slid open the false panel behind the cedar shoe rack.
The hidden passage was a narrow concrete chute equipped with a ladder that descended forty feet into the subterranean foundations of the estate. I pulled the panel shut, locking the magnetic latch from the inside, plunging us into complete darkness until Emily clicked on a miniature red-beam tactical penlight.
We moved quickly through the cool damp tunnel, the sound of Jason’s muffled pacing above fading into nothingness.
“Why didn't you tell me three years ago, Elena?” I asked as we reached the iron gate of the lower cellar.
“Because you wouldn't have believed me,” she answered honestly, stepping onto the concrete floor of the cellar. “Jason was your golden boy. He was your blood. If a strange woman walked up and claimed your beloved nephew murdered his own father for an inheritance, you would have had me buried under the concrete docks.”
She was right. Pride is the blindfold that kills more kings than bullets ever do.
“Where is Raymond’s ledger?” I asked, opening the hidden armory locker behind the vintage Chianti racks.
Elena pulled a heavy titanium thumb drive from a waterproof capsule around her neck. “Right here. It contains nine years of bank wire transfers, offshore shell accounts in Panama, and the digital purchase records of the concentrated digitalis glycoside Jason bought through a dark-web broker in Rotterdam to poison Raymond’s whiskey.”
I loaded a customized submachine gun and strapped two tactical magazines to my belt.
“Jason thought my brother’s blood was his ticket to a throne,” I said, racking the bolt back with a sharp, echoing CLACK. “Tonight, he finds out that blood only pays for a grave.”
We exited the cellar through the reinforced steel bulkhead into the private garage. My armored black Mercedes sedan was parked in the corner, its engine pre-warmed by remote link.
I dialed my private tactical frequency on the satellite dashboard phone.
“Marcus,” I commanded.
“Boss?” my chief of tactical operations answered instantly from the central command hub. “Where are you? Tom reported that your car was ambushed on the expressway!”
“Tom is a traitor, Marcus,” I said, my voice cutting through the speaker like a blade. “Jason and three Falcone hitmen are currently in my master bedroom waiting to execute me.”
A stunned, deadly silence fell over the radio link.
“Orders, Boss?” Marcus asked, his tone shifting into wartime readiness.
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“Lock down every entrance to Manhattan Harbor. Deploy the Alpha Tactical Squad to the estate perimeter. And notify the Five Families Council that Victor Moretti is calling an emergency midnight assembly.”
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