The grand windows of Moretti Villa’s front hall shattered into fragments as bursts of 5.56 caliber rounds tore through the heavy velvet curtains. Helicopter searchlights cut through the openings, slicing the darkness like blinding blades of light. The air, once warm with the scent of oak, turned sharp with the smell of gunpowder and drifting cement dust.“Down!” Silas roared as he pulled Elena behind a solid stone pillar.Vittorio Valdieri did not drop. He simply lowered himself, taking cover behind the massive teak table he had overturned. The hand holding The Black Mamba moved with terrifying calm, as if he were conducting an orchestra of death rather than standing in the middle of a hail of bullets.“Vincenzo! Left side! They’re using smoke grenades!” Vittorio shouted.“I see them, Don!” Vincenzo answered from behind a barricade of leather sofas. “These spoiled brats think they can enter my house? Alberto, prepare a ‘gift’ for them!”Alberto, usually the quiet one, grinned widely.

A light drizzle washed over the windows of their temporary headquarters on the top floor of an old apartment building overlooking the harbor. In the distance, the city lights flickered unevenly, remnants of the system shock Vittorio had just unleashed. Inside the room, the scent of bitter coffee and the lingering smoke of Lorenzo’s cigars blended with the sharp sting of antiseptic.Vittorio Valdieri stood before a large table, studying the monitor displaying data from Julian Thorne’s black case. His black suit had been replaced with a clean white shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal the bandages wrapped around his shoulder.“Pico, how many of Marcus Vance’s assets have we managed to trace?” Vittorio asked without turning.“Almost all of them, sir,” Pico replied, fingers dancing eagerly across the keyboard. “Thorne kept records of Vance’s shadow accounts in the Caymans and Switzerland. But there’s one problem. Vance uses a Dead Man’s Switch system. If a large withdrawal is made without v

The armory beneath the Honor District was no longer as silent as a grave. Bright halogen lights flooded the clean concrete floor, where rows of wooden crates and military-grade tactical cases stood open. On a long table, thousands of stacks of cash and banking hardware recently taken from Marcus Vance were arranged neatly, giving off the scent of fresh paper and absolute power.Vittorio Valdieri stood on the mezzanine balcony, looking down at the twenty men Silas had just recruited from the remnants of The Outcasts and independent mercenaries. These were men erased from every system, veterans betrayed by The Circle.“They look thirsty, Silas,” Vittorio murmured, gripping the iron railing with a hand now wrapped in black leather gloves.“They are not just thirsty, Don. They are starving for revenge,” Silas replied, standing beside him in full combat gear. “Each of them has already received a hundred thousand dollars upfront. The rest comes after we bring down the facility in the Atlas

The hum of the cooling reactor at the heart of the Atlas Mountains sounded like the dying roar of some ancient beast. The blue glow from thousands of Project Icarus server racks flickered unstably, casting terrifying silhouettes across steel walls that trembled under the force of thermite explosions below. In the center of the main server chamber, Vittorio Valdieri stood, breathing hard, yet the hand gripping The Black Mamba did not waver in the slightest.Valerio Valdieri’s massive hologram slowly faded, replaced by the hiss of a hydraulic door behind the central cylindrical structure. From within a sterilization chamber, a man stepped out clad in a dark silver tactical suit. His face was identical to the hologram, a face that should have rotted at the bottom of the sea forty years ago.“Holograms are for those who are afraid, Vittorio,” Valerio said as he walked across the transparent glass floor. “I want to feel this myself. I want to see that body of Leo Ravelli break in front of

The steady beeping of a heart monitor echoed like a countdown in a vacuum. The smell of ozone from the lingering EMP blast at Zenith Tower still clung to the air, now mixed with the sterile scent of antiseptic and fresh blood. Vittorio Valdieri lay rigid on an emergency operating table inside the armored vehicle, which sped away from the city center.The world outside was celebrating the fall of The Circle, but inside this medical cabin, death was attempting its final negotiation.“His heart stopped! Silas, press harder!” Elena shouted, her hands slick with blood already turning cold.Silas Vane, a man usually as steady as stone, was drenched in sweat. He drove his hands down on Vittorio’s chest with brutal rhythm. “Don’t you dare die now, Don! We just burned the world for you! You don’t get to leave while the fire’s still burning!”“Pico! How far to the safe medical base in the Southern Sector?” Elena turned forward, her eyes red.“Two minutes, Miss! I’ve hacked us a green route! No