SHADOWS STRIKE FIRST

Morning crept over creaking fortress gates, morning spreading to silver gray. Sentry gazed upon parapets, suspicion stretched taut, eyes cutting into every shadow. A map of Europe dominated the war room table, red pins and black crosses indicating where Sophia's mastery had swept like wildfire. Luca lay out on the map, fingers' tips interwoven. Bianca to one side, icy and cold as a glacier in their heads, clad in black fatigues appropriate for tactical operations. Raphael sitting cross-legged next to him, glint of the blade of the knife between the fingers as tension began creeping into the room. "We attacked the Lisbon warehouse first," Raphael explained. "We attacked one of Sophia's convoys last night on her weapons depot. She's planning something big." "She's cooking us," Bianca snarled. Luca got up. "Let's not let her have the opportunity to attack, then." As he spoke, a gentle beep resounded through the room—a message on Luca's encrypted tablet. He put his fingers on the screen. The image of the camera at the north gate throbbed on screen. One man hugged the branches of trees. Raphael's brows knitted. "That's—" "Adraine," Luca replied, a storm building in the creases of his eyes. Bianca's hand edged toward her gun. "This is a trap." "Amen to that, it is," Raphael replied. "But that doesn't prevent us from being sensitive to it." Luca gestured toward the window. "Bianca, go on. Raphael, seal the perimeter. In the event something does occur—" "I kill in self-defense," he replied. Luca gave the old camera a disdainful look before he left. --- Aside from the woods, Adraine's arms were raised. Her top was torn, hair messy, and blood easily dripped down from her lip. Bianca and Luca were holding her on the ground. "Have to tell you," she panted. "Now." Luca had not put his gun away. "Get it out quickly." Adraine's gaze scanned Bianca. "You weren't ever supposed to love. That was your first mistake." Bianca moved forward, her voice a whip. "You poisoned our champagne wedding. You tried to poison our wedding on a lie." "I did what I had to do," Adraine said. "But I'm not here to finish a war—I'm here to stop one from beginning." Luca's face hardened and chilled. "Why the change of heart?" "Because Sophia quit playing," she said. "She doesn't just want to play fill-in for you. She wants to eliminate all of the Mafia and begin anew in her own right, on her own terms. Even I never did that." Bianca crossed her arms. "And we're supposed to believe that you've had a conscience within a time period of twenty-four hours?". "This is it all. The names of her friends. The encryption on her networks. The coordinates for all of the bases she has established in the past half-year." Luca glared at the drive. "Why did she give it to us?" Adraine glared at him, literally glared at him, pain welling in her eyes. "Because I lost the only family I ever had. And you're the only one who ever took a chance on me, Luca. I didn't deserve it. But I have to fight to get it back." Bianca's words spilled out nervously. "What's the catch?" Adraine paused. "Sophia's holding out for your turn. She took care of business in Lisbon already. If you do go there. you're stepping into an ambush." Luca's face turned icy with rage. "And then what in the world do you have us do?" "There's a party tonight," Adraine went on. "An inner circle party in Marseille. All of the members essential to Sophia's coalition will be there. If you move fast, you can cut her power at its source." Bianca raised an eyebrow. "And you'll transport us?" "I'll get you to their doorstep." Luca glared at her. "If you betray us again, "I won't," she panted. "This time." He drove, looked over at Bianca. "Think it's a good idea?" Bianca glared for a moment at Adraine before she jerkily nodded. "She lies again, I shoot her in the head." --- By darkness, the crew was in flight. Bianca buckled into her thigh holster aboard the charter plane as Luca read the documents off the flash drive. Raphael strode back and forth down the aisle, toying with a toothpick, his eyes burning with rage. "This is madness," he growled. Luca didn't look up. "All wars are just." Bianca buckled on her vest. "This time there is no playing games. We go two by two, we kill the head snake, and we don't leave any behind." "Everybody leaves," Luca snarled. Adraine stood frozen by the window, arms braced, eyes averted. "You'll have to get to the west wing of the chateau. The guards switch at 21:07 on the dot. That'll give you four minutes before they'll even know you're there." Luca raged at her. "Inside?" "at least fifteen men in uniform. But the councilors will be past the inner room—guarded with five guards there alone." Bianca loaded the gun. "Then there we go." When the plane passed over Marseille, Raphael smiled nastily. "Ever had anyone say to you two that you are a killer couple?" Luca smiled back, equally cold. "Only Tuesdays." --- The chateau towered above the face of the cliff, spires and darkness stretching upwards into the night air. The team moved across the gardens, darkness and shadow. Adraine crawled forward slowly, moving under ivy curtains and slipping over shattered stone doors. They slid into the west hall during the changing of the guard. "Now," she whispered. They slid as a phantom breeze. Inside the marble halls, the laughter and clinking glass were from inside the inner room. Luca opened his hand. "Positions." Bianca moved stealthily along the wall, peering into the room. Five men and two women, seated around a black obsidian table long—Sophia's inner circle. Laughing, toasting, none the wiser. Until the lights went out. Gunfire followed the silence. Bianca walked in, took out two guards in one smooth motion. Luca was at the center, head-shot one and cleared the table with a burst of high speed fire bullets. Raphael fell from the ceiling, crashing into his attacker like a ghost. Done in two minutes. There was blood on the ground. Smoke filled the air. All the council members were dead. And Sophia gone. "She knew," Luca growled. "She wasn't here." Bianca gazed at the corpses. "This was set up. A performance. She's making a statement." There'd been a ringing telephone in the corpse's pocket. Luca answered it. Sophia on the phone, sweet and cold. "Bravo, brother-in-law. Fantastic slaughter. Too bad I missed it." Luca balled his fist over the phone. "It's over tonight, Sophia." "Oh no, Luca. Just the start. You stole my sister. My strength. My seat. And I'm stealing them all back. And it starts with your stronghold." The phone died. Luca's eyes locked on Bianca. "She's going to Ravenna." Adraine went pale. "She faked it. She knew you'd leave it open." Raphael's voice thundered. "We have to go back. Now." Bianca curled her lip into a snarl. "Then we'll head home and remind her what the Mafia dreads hearing the words Monticellis." Luca spoke in steel. "War is what she wants?" He leaned his gun on his shoulder. "She's going to choke on it."