Chapter 5 - trial by stone
The vault plunged into pitch-black darkness as the auxiliary power cut out.
"Boss!" Marcus called out, his tactical flashlight beam cutting through the dust as he rushed to the heavy iron door. He grabbed the internal lever and pulled with all his strength, but the electronic lock was completely dead.
"Save your breath, Marcus," Victor said calmly, his voice steady in the darkness. "The door is solid three-inch steel. It won't budge from the outside."
Clara walked over to the corner of the small room, her hands feeling along the rough granite wall. "Your father didn't build a safe room with only one way out, Victor. He was too paranoid for that."
Victor walked over beside her, raising his phone light to illuminate the stone wall. "What are you looking for?"
"A second keyhole," Clara said, pointing her finger toward a small decorative relief carving of a falcon's head on the main pillar. "My mother told me that Don Salvatore always kept an emergency release hidden inside his family ring."
Victor looked down at his right hand. He wore his father's heavy gold signet ring—a ring he had worn every day since Salvatore died.
Victor leaned close to the falcon carving. He turned his signet ring upside down and pressed the raised gold crest directly into the eye of the falcon relief.
Click. Hummmmm.
A low mechanical groan echoed through the granite floorboards as the entire stone pillar shifted three inches to the left, revealing a low, narrow escape tunnel carved directly through the bedrock toward the lake shore!
"Get moving," Victor ordered, ushering Clara and Marcus into the narrow tunnel just as a faint rumble echoed from above—Santino's men detonating small explosive charges in the wine cellar above.
Five minutes later, the three of them emerged into the cool night air through a camouflaged iron hatch concealed inside an old stone boathouse near the water's edge.
Across the lawn, smoke poured from the rear windows of the main mansion, while three black sedans pulled up to the front courtyard.
Victor watched as Santino Bellucci and Celeste stepped out onto the grand front porch, surrounded by ten heavily armed mercenaries.
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Victor reached into his coat, pulling his heavy silver revolver from his holster. His dark eyes burned with an icy, terrifying resolve.
"Marcus," Victor said softly. "Call the five family captains. Tell them to bring their crews to the estate immediately. We are holding a blood tribunal tonight."
