Chapter 8 - The Siege of Cohasset
The main floor of the estate had become a war zone.
Glass from the floor-to-ceiling windows rained down as heavy automatic fire swept through the grand living room. Four men in dark tactical gear, carrying suppressed submachine guns, advanced through the smoke, led by Victor Valenti—the ruthless younger brother of the Valenti family head.
"FIND THE KID AND THE DOG!" Victor shouted over the thunder of the storm outside. "BURN EVERYTHING ELSE!"
A heavy 12-gauge slug tore through the doorframe beside Victor’s head, blowing one of his guards backward through the shattered glass.
Damien Cross moved through the shadows of his own house like a phantom. He fired with terrifying precision, utilizing his intimate knowledge of the mansion's layout to cut down the intruders one by one.
He dropped two more men in the grand hallway, his shotgun cycling through shells with rhythmic lethality. But the Valentis had brought numbers. Outside, more men were storming the terrace, throwing incendiary grenades into the ground floor.
Flames began to lick up the heavy velvet drapes in the library, filling the upper floor with thick, black smoke.
Down in the subterranean passage, Clara had just locked the secondary steel door leading to the safe room when a heavy explosion rocked the foundation of the house.
BOOM!
The concrete ceiling cracked above them, raining dust and debris onto the floor. The emergency lights flickered and died completely, plunging the passage into absolute blackness.
In the dark, Clara heard the heavy sound of iron boots coming down the concrete stairs from the kitchen above.
"Check the basement!" a voice barked in the dark. "The safe room is down here!"
Clara pulled her small pistol, her heart hammering in her throat. She couldn't see a thing. The air was thick with dust, and the heat from the fires above was beginning to seep through the concrete ceiling.
She felt a gentle nudge against her arm.
It was Titan.
In total, unyielding darkness where human eyes were useless, Titan was in his element. The Aegis program had conditioned him to operate in low-visibility environments using acoustic mapping and smell.
Titan didn't make a sound. He didn't growl. He stepped past Clara, moving down the black corridor with silent, predatory grace.
"I hear something," a guard’s voice echoed down the stone hall, followed by the click of a tactical flashlight clicking on.
The white beam cut through the dust—just in time to illuminate Titan jumping through the air from three yards away.
The massive mastiff hit the lead guard with terrifying force, slamming him against the brick wall and disarming him instantly. The second guard panicked, swinging his rifle around in the narrow corridor.
FLASH!
Clara fired her pistol into the dark toward the flashlight beam, striking the second guard in the shoulder. He dropped his weapon, stumbling backward up the stairs into the burning kitchen.
Inside the safe room passage, Lily sat crouched against the cold steel door.
She couldn't hear the gunshots. She couldn't hear the roaring flames or the screams of the dying men above.
But she could feel the heavy vibrations through the concrete floor. She felt the sudden, hot draft sweeping down the hall.
She looked into the pitch blackness. She raised her hands, weaving a single signal in the dark:
Come back.
A second later, a large, wet nose pressed against her knee.
Titan was standing beside her. His hide was covered in soot, his fur wet with rain and sweat, but he was breathing steadily. He leaned his massive weight against her, letting her feel the deep, steady rhythm of his heartbeat through her small palm.
Above them, the heavy thud of military helicopters echoed through the storm.
Bright searchlights cut through the rain outside the mansion windows as three federal tactical transport choppers hovered over the south lawn.
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"ATTENTION ALL INDIVIDUALS INSIDE THE RESIDENCE. THIS IS THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION. DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY. THE PERIMETER IS SECURED."
The siege was over.
