Chapter 8 - THE TRAP IS SET
I drove a stolen armored cash-in-transit truck straight through the reinforced glass lobby of Arturo’s corporate headquarters. The guards didn't even have time to draw their weapons before I tossed tear gas canisters out the window. Blinding white smoke filled the atrium as I stepped out, a gas mask covering my face, a heavy machine gun in my hands.
I moved to the private elevator, blowing the control panel and using an override key I had kept for emergencies. As the elevator shot up to the penthouse on the 50th floor, I mentally prepared for the bloodbath.
When the doors chimed and slid open, I threw two flashbangs into the foyer. The concussive blasts shattered the expensive artwork and deafened the guards. I moved with lethal precision, taking down five armed men before the smoke cleared.
I kicked open the double mahogany doors to the boardroom. The capos were cowering under the heavy oak table, but Arturo was not there. Sitting at the head of the table was a laptop. The screen flickered to life, revealing Arturo’s sneering face.
"Predictable, Gabriel," Arturo rasped. "You always were a creature of brute force. Did you really think I would be here? I used the capos as bait."
My stomach dropped. "Where are you, Arturo?"
"Oh, I'm taking a lovely tour of a certain convent," he smiled, stepping aside to reveal the background on the video feed. My heart stopped. It was the chapel of the sanctuary. Bound to a pew were Isabel and Sofia. A gun was pointed at Sofia’s head.
"I tracked the burner phone you used to call Carmen," Arturo gloated. "You were careless, nephew. Now, here is the deal. You surrender to my men waiting in the lobby. You sign over all controlling shares of the legitimate businesses to me. And maybe, just maybe, I let the woman and the brat live. The baby, however... well, accidents happen."
May you like
"If you touch a single hair on their heads, I will carve your heart out with a spoon," I roared, shooting the laptop screen to pieces.
It was a trap. I had been outplayed. But Arturo had made one fatal miscalculation. He thought I was alone. He didn't know about the dead-man switch Ana Lucía had given me before she died—the backdoor into Arturo's entire empire.
