Debt Of Silence

The Fall and The Fury

The steel cable snapped with a sound like a rifle shot. Alix felt the immediate, sickening plunge. Her fingers were scraped raw. Her grip failed instantly. She fell into absolute darkness, three stories above granite and rain-slicked earth.

The fall lasted only a horrifying second. Alix did not hit the ground.

A heavy net of camouflage material, barely visible in the stormy darkness, caught her with a sharp, jarring impact. The unexpected stop winded her completely. She gasped for air, the rough fibers cutting into her skin.

Dante’s voice, tight with panic, ripped through the chaos from the third-floor window. "Hold on, Alessia! Do not move!"

The net was secured on one side to a large oak tree. The other side was held by the tension of several taut lines. It was a contingency—a failed plan for an earlier escape route Dante had installed. It was unstable.

The library window above was a scene of chaos. Alix heard Marco’s frustrated shouts. He knew she survived the fall. He knew the net was temporary.

"Cut the lines! Shoot the wires!" Marco screamed.

Alix tried to move. Her whole body was screaming in protest. The net swayed wildly. She looked down. It was still a twenty-foot drop to the stone terrace below.

Suddenly, Dante appeared at the window opening. He did not have time for the cable. He climbed onto the ledge. He moved with desperate speed. He began repelling down the remaining steel cable fragment, using only his hands and the friction of the wire.

Below, Marco's men burst out from the ground floor, heading for the net. They saw Alix suspended, defenseless.

"She’s mine!" Marco roared, firing a burst of automatic weapon fire into the air to command his men.

Dante reached the level of the net. He swung over, landing heavily beside Alix. His momentum plunged the net downward. Alix cried out as she slammed against his hard body.

"Quiet," Dante ordered, his face inches from hers. His breath was ragged. "They want us alive, Alessia. They want us in front of Marco."

He immediately began unbuckling the thick leather straps securing the net to the oak tree.

"What are you doing?" Alix demanded.

"The net is a trap now," Dante explained, his hands moving with efficient speed. "We fall. But we control the fall."

He cut the final buckle. The net dropped instantly.

Dante wrapped his arms around Alix. He twisted his body. He shielded her entirely.

They plunged twenty feet. They hit the stone terrace hard. The heavy impact knocked the air from Alix’s lungs again. The net crumpled around them like a discarded parachute.

Dante rolled immediately. He shoved Alix underneath a large, granite planter. He drew his pistol. He fired two warning shots into the night air.

The sudden, brutal landing bought them seconds.

"The garage," Dante commanded. He grabbed Alix’s arm. "We move for the lower drive. Now."

They sprinted across the wet stone. Marco’s men were already on the terrace. They were spreading out, trying to find them in the shadow of the mansion.

Alix and Dante reached the edge of the lower driveway. A long, dark line of trees offered the only cover. They ran into the dense foliage.

"The escape cars are programmed to activate by my biometric signal," Dante explained, running full out. "We are heading for the secondary compound tunnel."

They ran for five agonizing minutes. The trees ended. They were on the open asphalt of a service road. In the distance, Alix saw a massive black gate. It was the last perimeter.

Suddenly, a loud, high-pitched mechanical whine filled the air. A drone.

"Cover!" Dante roared. He shoved Alix behind a rusty electrical box.

The drone swooped low. It emitted a piercing, focused light beam. It scanned the service road. It was Marco’s surveillance. It locked onto their position.

Dante knew the light meant immediate hostile attention. He pulled Alix tighter against the box.

"They have eyes on us," Dante stated, his voice low and dangerous. "We cannot reach the gate."

He looked around desperately. The road was empty. The tree line was too far back.

Suddenly, a large, black van screeched to a halt beside them. It was unmarked. The side door slid open.

Alix saw a figure inside. It was not Salvatore. It was not Dante’s men.

It was an older man in an expensive coat. He wore thick, gold glasses. He held a small silver pistol.

"Get in, Don Falcone," the man said. His voice was calm. His voice was laced with Italian accent. "We came for the girl. But we will take both of you. You are in deep water now."

Dante shoved Alix toward the van. "Go! Now, Alessia!"

He covered her with his body as she scrambled inside.

Dante jumped in last. He slammed the side door shut.

The van roared away from the compound. It sped toward the city at impossible speeds. The noise of the assault and the sirens faded behind them.

Alix looked at the strange man with the gold glasses. He looked like an accountant. He looked like the most dangerous man she had ever seen.

"Who are you?" Alix demanded.

The man smiled faintly. He aimed the silver pistol directly at Dante’s head.

"We are the recipients of your initial debt, Miss Rossi," the man stated smoothly. "The Falcone family owed us. Your uncle owed us more. We are The Syndicate."

He nodded toward the massive screen embedded in the front partition of the van. The screen showed a real-time thermal image of Marco and his men taking over the Falcone mansion.

"Marco has what he wants," the Syndicate man observed. "And now, we have the collateral we always intended to collect."

He c****d the hammer of the pistol.

"We have you both," the Syndicate man said. "Tell me, Dante. Where is the rest of the gold?"

Dante did not look at the gun. He looked only at Alix. His eyes were cold, defeated rage.

"Do not tell them anything, Alessia," Dante warned her. "They will kill you slower than I would."

The van sped onto the freeway. The Syndicate man pressed the muzzle of the pistol hard against Dante's temple.

"The gold, Dante," the Syndicate man insisted. "Or she is the first to bleed."

Alix realized the horrific truth. They had escaped Marco, only to land directly in the hands of the true, global enemy. The man who truly owned Dante's debt.

And Dante was looking at her, waiting for her to break.