Free Web NovelChapter 202: Chapter 202: A Rather Ungraceful Ambush
The moment the Shelby’s heavy doors swung open, the sharp, unmistakable crack of a supersonic round shattered the night air.
"Hit the dirt!" Alexander roared, his reflexes firing instantly.
Before Victoria could even process the command or attempt a graceful dive, Alexander’s arm forcefully shoved her downward. The momentum sent her flying, and she crashed unceremoniously shoulder-first into the Shelby’s rear quarter-panel with a loud, hollow thud.
"Ow! Dammit, Alexander!" Victoria shrieked, scraping her knee against the pavement and smudging fresh blood all over her elegant dress and the car’s pristine gray paint.
Alexander didn’t have time to apologize. His sidearm was already out, clearing the holster in a blur of movement. He leveled the barrel toward the first masked hitman emerging from the shadows near the entrance and squeezed the trigger twice. Two heavy rounds caught the assassin in the chest, dropping him like a sack of bricks.
From the opposite side of the driveway, a second masked shooter panicked, blindly raising his pistol. He squeezed off three rapid shots, but his hands were shaking so violently that the bullets flew wildly into the upper glass panels of the lobby doors, showering the empty reception desk in a dramatic waterfall of sparkling shards.
"Seriously? You missed from five meters?" Alexander muttered under his breath unbothered by the terrible marksmanship.
Without breaking his stride, Alexander pivoted, tracking the second shooter’s erratic movement. He aligned his sights and fired a single, cold-blooded round directly through the center of the man’s ski mask. The assassin crumpled forward, his pistol clattering loudly against the asphalt before rolling into a nearby storm drain.
Silence returned to the luxury driveway, save for the rhythmic clicking of the Shelby’s cooling engine and Victoria’s heavy, highly annoyed breathing.
Alexander quickly scanned the perimeter, his weapon raised, but the courtyard was entirely empty. He reached down, grabbing both hitmen by their tactical vests to check their collars, pockets, and wrists. There were no tattoos, no burner phones, no custom gear, and no identifying marks. They were ghosts—nameless contract triggers hired to do a messy job, leaving Alexander with no way to verify who had sent them.
Aria´s eyes wide with terror as she took in the sight of the two unmoving bodies on the pavement.
"Again...?" whispered Aria, her voice trembling as she looked around the dark courtyard. "Are they... are they coming after me again?"
"I have no goddamn idea what just happened" said Alexander, dropping his empty magazine. "But at least the immediate threat is dealt with. Everything is under control for now."
The shock of the impact and the ruined dress finally cleared from Victoria’s mind, replaced instantly by a wave of white-hot, aristocratic fury. She stood up ignoring the scrape on her knee, and ripped her phone out of her purse. Her fingers smashed against the screen as she dialed her father’s direct line.
The call connected, and she didn’t even give him a second to speak.
"What the hell is going on, Father?!" exploded Victoria, her regal voice echoing angrily. "Two masked hitmen just ambushed us right outside my own front doors! How is it remotely possible for armed triggers to breach a high-security perimeter this easily? Where the fuck is that idiot of a security chief you hired?! I want his head on a plate by tomorrow morning...!!!" frёewebηovel.cѳm
Alexander stared down at his weapon, a grim expression on his face as he dropped the empty magazine into his palm. He looked inside the chamber; it was empty. He had officially used every single round he had left.
"If someone tried to pull off a hit inside this specific perimeter, they had to know this property belongs to your family, Victoria" said Alexander, shoving the useless pistol back into his waistband. "If we look at the facts, the target was obviously one of the three of us. But sending rookies who can barely hold a straight line feels incredibly sloppy for a high-profile hit... There’s got to be something else going on here."
"Yes, but what?" asked Victoria, her breathing finally slowing down as she tightly clutched her phone.
Victoria swiped her keycard across the scanner, and the heavy security doors unlocked with a clean electronic beep. The three of them quickly stepped inside the lavish, marble-floored lobby. Alexander immediately walked over to a glass console table near the entrance, placing his empty handgun onto the surface.
"I have no idea" said Alexander, rubbing the back of his neck. "But right now, I am out of ammunition. Let’s just pray nothing else goes sideways until I can get my hands on a fresh supply."
He took a quick scan of the elegant room before turning his eyes back to her. "I need to use the restroom. Could you point me in the right direction?"
"Yes, of course" said Victoria, gesturing toward a sleek corridor. "It’s right at the very end of the hall."
"Thanks" said Alexander.
He turned and began walking down the corridor, but his eyes weren’t looking for a doorway. Instead, his gaze darted sharply across the high ceilings, the mirrored panels, and the corners of the structural pillars. The brutal, repetitive conditioning of the TMC live-fire simulation was already showing its subconscious results. Every single one of his survival instincts was screaming at him; he could feel the invisible, heavy weight of a hidden gaze watching their movements from somewhere outside. He needed to figure out if he was the primary target, or at the very least, get his body out of the sniper’s potential line of sight.
Alexander slipped around the corner of the hallway, stepping into the blind spot of the lobby’s massive panoramic windows.
Outside, high above the opposite rooftop, the low, static-filled crackle of a private tactical radio broke the silence.
"The annoyance has finally moved out of sight" muttered a cold, distorted voice into the transmitter. "It’s time. Move in. Aria doesn’t matter to me at all, but you must not touch a single hair on Victoria’s head. If anything happens to her, I will personally castrate every single one of you."
"Understood" replied a gruff voice from a black van parked down the street. "What do we do about her guard?"
"Kill him."
