Thunder rolled overhead as Alessandro, Rachel, and Nico moved through the darkened streets. Their targets were scattered across the city—Consortium lieutenants scrambling to disappear before Alessandro's team reached them. Each location was a step deeper into the heart of darkness.
They hit the first safehouse in Midtown: a high-rise penthouse where two Consortium accountants were burning files. Nico set silent charges on the door. The blast blew it inward, and they swept the apartment with ruthless precision. The accountants fell before they could reach their guns.
Next was a derelict brownstone in Brooklyn. Alessandro kicked the door open, Rachel at his side, gun raised. Inside, three bodyguards waited in a tight corridor. Bullets cracked the silence as Alessandro rolled to cover, returning fire with lethal accuracy. Rachel dropped one man with a shot to the chest; Nico knifed another as he lunged from a side room.
Blood pooled across worn wooden floors. The last Consortium lieutenant inside tried to flee out the back. Alessandro caught him in the alley, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him against a brick wall.
"Where's the new leadership meeting?" Alessandro demanded, voice low and cold.
The man gasped, eyes wild. "Warehouse… Navy Yard… tonight… please—"
A single shot cut him off. Rachel lowered her pistol, eyes cold. "No loose ends."
They regrouped in an abandoned diner on the East River, weapons laid out across greasy tables. Rain pounded the windows like drumbeats, thunder shaking the glass.
Nico checked his watch. "The warehouse is fifteen minutes away. If they're gathering everyone who's left, this is our only shot."
Rachel looked at Alessandro, her voice fierce but soft. "If we go in, there's no turning back."
He took her hand, pressing it to his chest. "I don't want to turn back."
Lightning flashed, illuminating their faces—hardened, determined, united.
Outside, the city was quiet, but Alessandro knew it was the calm before the storm. Tonight, they would decide who lived, who died—and whether redemption was still possible