Inizio (COMPLETED)

31. Foe

"Ambushed? By who," came Francesca's voice. She had a tight grip on Amico who was looking around the room as if trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Him," Amico said. "Giuseppe." I nodded, having already come to that conclusion. I looked at the guards in the room and saw that they had their weapons drawn and ready to go.

"Oh my. What are we supposed to do now. This wasn't meant to happen at all," said Mrs. Fiorentino.

"They beat us at our own game," mentioned Mr. Fiorentino.

I counted how many guards were present.

Six of them.

"Alright, here's the plan," I began. All attention was placed on me in an instant. "There's six of us. Well, seven including me. But that's enough to split. You two," I said pointing to the two men that had come in earlier to tell us of their findings in Marco's room.

"Come here by me. Caleb—,"

"We have a place," said Amico. I looked at him confused. "I'm sorry," I asked.

"A place. A safe room." He gently peeled off Francescas hands and placed them onto the guard closest to them. Quickly, he walked over by me and grabbed a fire poker. He rolled back the long rug that lay on the floor and right there, carved into the wood was a fire poker shape. He placed the poker right above it and stepped back.

There was a pause before the ground opened up. Small bulbs of light lit up to show a staircase. Amico stepped aside to show me.

"Alright then, even better. Caleb, take: Stephan, Jessica, Natalia, Francesca, Amico, and Mr. n Mrs. Fiorentino down there."

Caleb obeyed and motioned for them to follow him. He reached the top of the stairs before then and looked at me.

"What are you planning? You don't even know the house." I agreed.

"That's why they're coming," I pointed to the men I'd called over. "Tony, I don't think one guard is enough down there so you go as well. It's not too safe to keep the family here so as soon as I give you a go that the premise is clear, you go ahead and evacuate them. These two will help me get your ride on the top of the house. The front and back will be too exposed. Do you think you and Caleb is enough?"

" No, perhaps two more will suffice. Heightens our chances of leaving with everyone in one piece," Tony answered.

I looked at the remaining guards who were standing at the door in case anyone came in. I told them to head down with Tony and Caleb. They looked to Amico for affirmation and they got it.

"Listen to the woman! What are you looking at me for?" They joined Amico at the top of the stairs.

"Alright, I need one of those," I said to Caleb as I looked at his talkie. He gave it to me. "We can stay in contact through Tony if we need to," he said. I gave him a small smile and hooked it to my pants. " Alright, now as for us," I stayed pointing to the two men beside me. "First priority, make sure area is clear enough to let you guys out. Then—," rounds could be heard from close outside the doors. We all aimed our guns at the massive double doors.

"Go...Go," I whispered to Amico and Francesca. The were led down by Tony. Caleb walked over to me and handed me his gun.

"What're you doing," I whispered. He pushed the gun towards me.

"Potentially saving your life." He nudged the gun again. I grabbed it reluctantly.

"What about you?"

"There are guns down there. I'll be fine. Stay safe, Zhara. And listen to these guys. They know every spec of dust in this place. You need to go somewhere? Ask them. Capisci," he asked.

"Uh capa-sci," I softly let out. He grinned widely, then shook his head.

"Close enough," and he turned and headed down the stairs. One of the two men that were standing beside reached into the entrance of the safe room and pressed a button. There was a short pause afterwards and then the floor sealed itself once again.

He grabbed the fire poker and placed it where it was, before rolling the carpet back into place.

"Okay. I'm Zhara. You are?"

"Vincent, but you can call me Vince," said the one who's just rolled out the carpet. The one with the handkerchief from before spoke next.

"Esteban, but you can call me Esteban." His apparent sense of humour made me smile and hold back a snort.

"Alright, I need to know where you keep your weapons. Gadgets, anything to see in the dark. We're going to be flying blind right now so we need a signal in case we bump into each other. Or else I'm shooting."

They both quietly chuckled and went silent again, remembering the situation we were in.

"We can put the ash from the fire place on our fingers and arms. If we touch each other, we will feel the roughness." I shrugged, not able to think of another idea. Vincent carefully grabbed a handful of ash and held it out for Esteban and I.

We dipped our fingers in, then Vincent sprinkled the rest onto our arms and the sleeve of our clothes. He did the same to himself.

I motioned my head towards the double doors. We walked over and  I pressed my ear lightly against the one of the doors. Esteban did the same. I looked at Vince, who had his gun ready, and I slowly opened the door. Gun first, he peeked through the small opening. He nudged the door open a bit more with his gun and when the small light from the fireplace showed that it was clear, he walked out.

The formation was simple: Vince in front, Esteban behind, and me in the middle. We tried to keep and équidistance between ourselves so as to stay in line. The wall was our best friend as we slowly glided along.

The air was pungent with the smell of smoke and I made sure to take in only small breaths to avoid too much inhalation. The further we walked, the worse the smoke got. It engulfed us in a warm frenzy. Vince stopped causing me to bump into him, and Esteban into I. He grabbed my hand and I felt the ash residue on his fingers.

"• • — •/ — — —/ •/," he tapped out against my wrist.  "Foe" is what he was saying. I passed the message along to Esteban. I heard the footsteps of our enemy far before he reached us.

When the footsteps were a breath away, Vince acted fast. He grabbed the person and for a moment, only the struggle was heard.

"Codice," whispered Vince. (Translation: Code)  The person in his grasp stopped moving. Then he whispered back, " Leone."

A crack came a short moment later and I heard the mans body slump to the floor. Vince grabbed my hand again and tapped. He told us to keep moving.

A good twenty two minutes later, we arrived. The keypad was still illuminated so I could see Vince type out the password.

7-2-8-9-3

The door let out a rush of air. At around the same time, voices arose from somewhere a bit far off behind us. We entered the dark room quickly.  As if sensing us, the computers began to glow lowly. Not too bright to see throughout the room, but not too dark either.

"Sensors," mumbled Esteban. I heard a drawer being accessed and in seconds, Vince was before Esteban and I. We grabbed the night vision goggles in his hands and placed them.

Esteban and I had our backs to the screen so there was a faint glow on Vince's facial features. I placed the goggles and pushed the on button. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the green hue of the room. With my eyes adjusted finally, I looked up at Vincent. His eyes were wide and he swallowed hard.

I froze at what I saw as a tilted my head slightly to look behind Vince.

There, in his calm state, was Cane.

With a gun aimed at back of Vince's head. The safety went off.

"Sposta e sparo," said a familiar voice.(Translation: Move and I shoot)