Chapter 11 - Blood on the Hudson
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Automatic gunfire chewed through the thick oak doors of the library, splintering centuries-old wood into lethal wooden shrapnel.
Roman fired three controlled, suppressed shots through the smoke, dropping the first intruder before the man could clear the threshold.
"Nora, move!" Roman commanded, firing again as two more mercenaries in tactical gear rushed the hallway.
Instead of fleeing into the cellar, Nora’s eyes locked onto the master electrical breaker panel mounted inside the open library closet.
She remembered the blueprints she had studied: the estate was equipped with an industrial halogen security floodlight grid on the terrace.
While Roman engaged the remaining attackers in the hallway, Nora dashed across the open floor, staying low to avoid the flying bullets.
She reached the panel, ripped open the steel door, and located the emergency commercial power bypass switch.
With a surge of desperate strength, she slammed the heavy lever upward.
Outside, thirty thousand watts of blinding stadium floodlights instantly ignited across the exterior terraces, turning the midnight darkness into blinding daylight.
Cries of shock and disorientation erupted from Rossi’s mercenaries outside as the overwhelming glare blinded their night-vision goggles.
"Now, Roman!" Nora screamed.
Roman seized the tactical advantage instantly, stepping into the hallway and neutralizing the blinded attackers with ruthless, surgical precision.
Lev and the estate’s security detail swept in from the western wing, their heavy weapons barking as they secured the perimeter.
Within three minutes, the gunfire ceased, replaced by the heavy patter of rain and the groans of wounded intruders.
Roman lowered his weapon, his chest heaving, his gaze snapping back toward the open library door.
"Nora!" he called out, his voice cracked with raw panic.
"I'm here," she answered, stepping out from behind the steel breaker panel, coughing from the lingering gunpowder smoke.
Roman rushed toward her, his gun clattering to the floor as his arms wrapped around her in a crushing, desperate embrace.
He buried his face into the curve of her neck, his entire body trembling with an intensity she had never felt before.
"You insane, magnificent woman," he breathed raggedly, his hands checking her arms, her face, her hair for any injury.
"You could have been killed."
"They were using night vision," Nora explained, leaning into his chest, her hands clutching his damp shoulders.
"The floodlights completely blinded them."
Suddenly, she felt a wet, sticky warmth soaking through the front of her wool sweater.
She pulled back, looking down in horror as dark crimson blood bloomed across the side of Roman’s black cashmere sweater.
"Roman!" she cried out, her eyes widening in terror as she saw the jagged wound along his left ribcage.
A ricocheted round had caught him during the hallway exchange, tearing deep into the flesh above his hip.
"It’s nothing," Roman grunted, his knees buckling slightly as the adrenaline began to fade from his system.
"It’s just a graze."
"You are bleeding through your clothes, you stubborn idiot!" Nora yelled, wrapping her arm around his waist to support his weight.
"Lev! Get the medical kit into the study right now!"
With Lev’s assistance, Nora helped Roman onto the long leather sofa beside the dying embers of the fireplace.
She grabbed surgical scissors from the trauma kit Lev provided, cutting away the bloody sweater with steady, practiced hands.
"This is going to hurt," she warned, cleaning the wound with antiseptic as Roman clenched his jaw, refusing to make a sound.
She stitched the jagged laceration with methodical, focused care, her fingers steady despite the tears burning behind her eyelids.
When the final bandage was secured, Roman reached up, his blood-stained fingers gently brushing away a stray tear from her cheek.
"I told you," he whispered, a weak, tender smile touching his lips.
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"You are fire, little bird."
"And tonight, you saved my life."
