Chapter 5 - The Siege of Division Street
The first warning wasn't a knock or a gunshot—it was the sudden, absolute silence of the neighborhood. The distant wail of city sirens cut out entirely, replaced by the heavy, ominous rumble of two black SUVs idling curbside without their headlights.
Marcus moved instantly, sliding the heavy steel security shutters down over the front windows with a deafening metallic clatter. He unclipped a suppressed submachine gun from a wall-mounted rack behind the bookcase, tossing a secondary sidearm onto the table near Sadie.
“Can you fire a Glock?” Marcus asked, his voice entirely devoid of panic. Sadie stared at the black polymer pistol resting inches from her coffee cup. Her hands were still shaking from the cold and the pain in her ankle. “I... I’ve never held a gun in my life.” “Then keep your finger off the trigger and stay behind the mahogany pillar,” Callum commanded, his own hand sliding smoothly beneath his arm to draw a heavy-caliber Sig Sauer. There was no fear in his eyes—only an absolute, chilling calm that belonged to a man who had been raised in the crosshairs of a generational turf war.
Crash.
The reinforced glass of the rear kitchen window shattered inward in a shower of glittering shards. Marcus fired three times into the gloom before a hail of answering automatic gunfire chewed through the drywall, splintering wood and sending plaster dust raining down over the room.
“They’re coming through the alley!” Marcus shouted over the din. Callum grabbed Sadie by the back of her coat collar, hauling her upright before she could freeze in terror. Ignoring the sharp pain in her bandaged ankle, he half-carried, half-dragged her toward the reinforced panic room hidden behind a sliding bookcase in the study.
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“In. Now,” Callum ordered, shoving her past the threshold into the dimly lit steel-reinforced enclosure. “What about you?” Sadie cried out, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket. “You can’t take them all alone!” “Marcus and I aren't alone, Sadie,” Callum said with a grim, humorless smile. He pulled a heavy steel security lever that began sliding the vault door shut between them. “This is my house.”
Before the heavy door locked completely into place, Sadie caught a final glimpse of Callum Russo stepping out into the smoke-filled hallway, his pistol raised, a terrifying predator in a tailored suit striding willingly into the storm.
