Chapter 5 - GLASS AND GUNFIRE
Marco hit Massimo from the side and sent the wheelchair crashing behind a leather sofa.
Carla screamed from the hallway.
“Get Nina!” Massimo shouted.
Another burst of gunfire chewed through the desk.
Dr. Hale dropped to the floor, covering his head.
Dean came running from the west hall with a pistol already in his hand. “Where are they?”
“South lawn!” Marco yelled.
Massimo hated being on the floor.
Hated the useless weight of his legs.
Then Nina appeared in the doorway.
“Uncle—”
Carla grabbed her just as a round shattered the doorframe.
Massimo’s blood turned to fire.
“Down!”
Then silence.
Not peaceful silence.
The kind after violence, when everyone checks whether they are still alive.
Carla curled over Nina on the floor.
“You okay?” she whispered.
Nina nodded against her chest.
Massimo looked at Hale.
The doctor was bleeding from a cut along his cheek.
“Finish your answer.”
Hale stared at him. “Now?”
“Especially now.”
Dean turned. “Massimo, we just got hit.”
“That makes me curious.”
Hale looked toward Dean.
Massimo saw it.
Again, a glance.
Again, too fast for anyone who had not spent his life watching men lie.
“Who ordered the drug?” Massimo asked.
Hale swallowed.
“No one ordered it.”
“Wrong answer.”
“It was part of an experimental pain-management protocol.”
“Then show me the consent form.”
Hale said nothing.
Dean stepped between them. “We can sort this out after security locks the property down.”
Massimo’s voice went quiet. “Move.”
Dean did not.
Now he looked almost offended.
“You think I had something to do with this?”
“I didn’t say your name.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Massimo stared at him.
Then Marco returned from outside holding a brass shell casing in a gloved hand.
“Boss, we found this under the south window.”
Dean glanced at it.
Marco’s expression had changed.
“What?” Massimo asked.
“This ammunition is custom-loaded.”
“So?”
“So we use the same supplier.”
Dean’s face went still.
May you like
Marco continued.
“These rounds came from our own armory.”
