Chapter 6 - The Shadows of the Aqueduct
The air inside the ancient Roman aqueduct was cool and damp, a stark contrast to the scorching Sicilian sun above. We moved in a tight tactical formation—Marco leading the vanguard, followed by the two doctors wheeling Elena on a specialized, low-profile tactical gurney, with Vittorio and myself protecting the rear.
Elena was fully conscious now, her eyes wide with shock as she took in the sight of the stone tunnels, the armed men, and the old man who kept looking at her with tears in his eyes.
"Luca, please tell me what’s happening," she begged, her voice trembling but surprisingly steady for someone who had been shot less than seventy-two hours ago. "Who is that man? Why does he look like he knows me?"
I paused the line, kneeling beside her gurney while Marco scanned the tunnel ahead with an infrared scope.
"Elena, this is Vittorio Bellaforte," I said, gesturing toward the old man. "He’s your grandfather."
She stared at him, her breath catching. "My... my grandfather? My mother told me her family was dead. She told me they were evil men who lived in Europe."
"Some of them are," Vittorio said softly, stepping forward and dropping to his knees beside her. He reached out a wrinkled, trembling hand, gently touching her hair. "Your mother was right to protect you, Francesca. But I never stopped loving her. And I never stopped searching for you. The man who ordered the shooting at the hospital... he is my twin brother, Lorenzo. He wants the inheritance your mother left behind, and he’s willing to destroy everything to get it."
Before Elena could answer, a sharp, metallic ping echoed through the stone tunnel ahead.
"Contacts!" Marco yelled, throwing himself against the stone wall. "Three targets wearing heavy body armor! They’ve got automatic weapons!"
A deafening roar of gunfire filled the narrow aqueduct, the muzzle flashes illuminating the dark stone walls like lightning. The Balkan mercenaries were using suppressors, the bullets whistling through the dark, chipping shards of ancient mortar into the air.
"Doctors, drop down!" I shouted, stepping over Elena’s gurney and raising my rifle. I fired three precise rounds into the darkness, the armor-piercing bullets dropping the lead mercenary instantly.
Marco moved like a machine, sliding forward and throwing a flashbang down the corridor. A blinding white light and a thundering crack echoed through the tunnel, followed by the agonizing screams of the remaining attackers. Marco finished them with two quiet shots from his sidearm.
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"The tunnel is clear, boss," Marco said, reloading his magazine. "But the acoustic signature of that firefight is going to bring the rest of them down on us within minutes. The entrance to the chapel vault is just fifty yards ahead."
"Move, now!" I ordered, grabbing the rear handle of the gurney myself. "Vittorio, get the master key ready."
