Chapter 11 - The Iron Wolf Unleashed
The living room erupted into violence in less than three seconds.
The intruder inside the foyer whirled around, raising his suppressed rifle toward the doorway, but Levi was already moving with the lethal, unpredictable speed of a man who had survived eight years of silent warfare.
A single shot cracked from Levi’s custom Browning Hi-Power, striking the operative precisely in the shoulder and spinning him hard against the drywall. The man dropped his weapon and crumpled to the floor.
"Sal!" Levi shouted over the roar of his engine idling outside. "Secure the perimeter! Sweep the alley!"
"On it, boss!" Sal’s voice boomed from the front yard as he neutralized a second gunman attempting to flank from the side garden.
Levi didn't slow down. He strode past the wreckage of the front door, his eyes scanning every corner of the living room until he saw a small hand clutching a pink sweater peeking out from behind the sofa.
He dropped to one knee, exactly as he had in the hospital alley weeks ago.
"Natalie," Levi said softly, pulling the throw pillow away.
Natalie blinked up at him, her gray-blue eyes wide, though her breathing was surprisingly steady. "They broke the door."
"They're not going to break anything else ever again," Levi promised, his voice dropping an octave into a register of absolute, terrifying resolve. He scooped her up into his arms, shielding her small body against his chest.
Claire came rushing down the stairs, pale and shaking violently, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Natalie! Oh, my God—"
"Mom!" Natalie cried, reaching out.
Levi handed the child safely to her mother, keeping his weapon drawn as Sal stepped back into the hallway, wiping dust from his shoulder.
"We got two alive outside, boss," Sal panted, checking his magazine. "One of them was carrying a burner phone linked directly to Vincent Rossi’s West Loop office."
Levi’s expression hardened into ice. "Rossi."
"He thought he could clean house while the federal indictments were still processing," Sal said grimly.
Levi looked at Claire, who was holding Natalie so tight her knuckles were white. "Pack a bag," Levi instructed quietly. "You're moving to the core vault suite on the sixty-first floor of Marconi Tower. No one enters or leaves without my direct authorization."
"And Rossi?" Claire asked, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and newfound defiance.
May you like
Levi turned toward the splintered front door, the late afternoon sun glinting off the pale scar near his temple.
"Rossi’s time is up," Levi said.
