Chapter Ten: The Assault
“The parents were his idea,” Marcus reported. “He wanted to break Leon. Wanted to show that no one was safe. Not even family.”
Arya listened to the tapes in the command vehicle.
Konstantin’s voice was calm, almost bored, as he discussed the assassination of a woman he’d never met.
“The Martinez girl dies at the dinner table,” he said. “In front of her husband. With her parents watching. And every debt we’ve ever written gets paid that night.”
Arya looked at Leon.
His face was perfectly still.
But his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.
“We hit him tonight,” Leon said.
“Tonight?” Marcus frowned. “That’s too soon. We need more time to plan—”
“We plan on the way. Assemble the teams. Full tactical gear. I want every exit covered, every guard accounted for, every weapon counted.”
Leon stood.
“And I want to be the one who puts him down.”
Arya stood too.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“You said I was part of this.”
“I said you were my intelligence advisor. That means you stay here. Where it’s safe.”
“I don’t do safe.” Arya’s voice was hard. “Not anymore. Not after watching my brother die because no one warned him.”
Leon stared at her.
“This isn’t about warning anyone. This is about killing people. Are you ready for that?”
“Are you?”
The question hung in the air between them.
Leon had killed men before. Dozens of them. He’d never lost a night of sleep over it.
But something about the way Arya looked at him made him feel seen in a way that was uncomfortable.
“Stay behind me,” he said finally. “At all times. If I tell you to run, you run. No arguments.”
Arya nodded.
“I can live with that.”
“You might not.”
“I’ve been living with might-not for three years.” She picked up a bulletproof vest and started strapping it on. “One more night won’t make a difference.”
The assault began at 1:00 a.m.
Leon’s team moved through the woods in silence, night-vision goggles painting the world in shades of green.
Arya followed behind Leon, her heart pounding so hard she was sure someone would hear.
The first guard fell to a silenced shot.
The second never saw Marcus coming.
By the time they reached the main house, seven men were down and no alarms had been raised.
“Thermal shows twelve inside,” Marcus whispered. “Konstantin is in the basement. Two guards with him. The rest are scattered through the main floor.”
Leon nodded.
“Alpha team takes the main floor. Bravo team secures the basement exits. Charlie team with me. We go straight down.”
Arya touched his arm.
“I see another exit. Basement, east wall. Hidden door.”
Leon looked at her. “How do you know?”
“Thermal shows a gap in the foundation. It’s either a door or a structural weakness. Either way, we should cover it.”
Leon relayed the information to Bravo team.
Then he moved toward the house.
