Chapter 7 The Heist

The King Cobras spread through the lobby like smoke through a building, cornering security guards, pinning them down, disarming them. No one moved-not if they wanted to breathe another minute.

But there's always one.

A tremble of movement from behind the front desk. A bank teller-young, mousy, terrified-reached beneath the counter, her shaking fingers just barely grazing the red alarm button.

Adriano's eyes locked onto her.

"No," he growled, already lifting his rifle. "No-"

Her finger pressed it.

A distant ping confirmed it.

Adriano fired.

The crack of the bullet silenced the lobby more completely than any command. The girl's head snapped back before her body hit the marble, eyes still wide in shock. The scream that followed was no longer panic-it was terror.

Blood spilled across the pristine bank tiles like spilled wine at a funeral.

"Fuck!" Luca hissed.

"Alarm's been triggered!" Serena's voice snapped in through Adriano's earpiece. "Security forces en route. Heavy ones. We've got sixty seconds before this place turns into a goddamn war zone."

Adriano's jaw tightened. He turned to his crew. "Move! We split now!"

The plan kicked into high gear.

Adriano, Luca, and twelve soldiers surged down the west corridor toward the cash reserves. The scent of cordite and blood trailed them.

Serena turned down the opposite hallway, accompanied by Enzo and a tech-heavy squad. Her sleek black laptop case bounced against her side. Her eyes gleamed-focused, unfazed-as she keyed into the bank's secured wing.

Marco took point toward the east vaults, blueprint in hand, his team right behind him. They carried heavy duffel bags and heavier artillery. They were heading for the crown jewels-the vault that held what money couldn't buy: secrets, leverage, and enough valuables to bankrupt countries.

Each hallway pulsed with danger. Flashing emergency lights. Shouted orders. The sound of armored boots echoing behind every corner.

Adriano's team reached the first chamber-rows of metal drawers packed with high-security cash. Three employees huddled against the wall, crying.

"Shut them up," Adriano ordered, leveling his gun. Soldiers yanked the trembling workers away from the panic button.

"Load the bags!" Luca shouted. "Take everything!"

Bills flew. Duffel bags opened. The sound of wealth being stolen filled the air.

Then came the rumble.

Security teams.

The real ones.

Gunfire shattered the tension.

The corridor to Adriano's left erupted in flashes of gun fire as armored guards opened up from behind riot shields. One of Adriano's men went down hard, blood splattering the floor tiles.

Adriano ducked and rolled, coming up with a heavier rifle slung off his back-a combat-grade SCAR-H.

"Oh, you sons of bitches wanna dance?" he snarled, sighting the first guard.

"Then let's fucking dance!"

He pulled the trigger.

The recoil kicked into his shoulder as two guards went down, blood smearing the glass behind them. Luca flanked left, covering Adriano's blind side with bursts of controlled fire.

The heist had turned into a war.

-

The sharp clack of Serena's boots echoed through the sterile corridor as she and her squad turned a corner and approached the secured data wing. Bulletproof glass walls surrounded the control room like a high-tech aquarium. Inside, monitors blinked with digital pulse-client accounts, encrypted ledgers, offshore mapping grids. It was the artery of Crown Federal's darkest secrets.

"Enzo," Serena said, holding her hand out, palm expectant.

Enzo slapped the encrypted keycard into her palm. "Only three minutes before we're completely surrounded," he muttered, checking his watch. "Maybe less."

"Then don't distract me with panic," Serena said coolly.

She swiped the card.

Click.

The door hissed open and Serena rushed in, setting her case down on the long metal console. Fingers flying, she unzipped it and revealed three sleek laptops, all primed and modified by her own hands.

Her voice buzzed through comms, direct to Adriano: "We're in the mainframe. Starting the hack now."

Three cords. Three entry ports. Three hacking systems to break into the fortress that was Crown's digital vault.

Behind her, Enzo and the soldiers covered the hallway. One of them dragged a rolling metal cart closer, toppling it to block the entrance as a makeshift barricade. The others trained their rifles down the hall, breath shallow, triggers tight.

Serena's screen blinked.

ACCESSING ENCRYPTED SERVER... CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

Three lines of code turned to hundreds. The monitors filled with digital architecture-towers of offshore accounts, shadow transactions, and deep data blackmail files, all guarded by layers of firewalls designed to destroy intruders on contact.

Too bad they hadn't met her yet.

Serena's fingers danced over the keyboard like a concert pianist. She was locked in. Focused. Ruthless.

Progress bar: 40%... 42%...

"Five minutes," she whispered, biting her lip.

"What?" Enzo turned to her, rifle still in hand.

"We've got five minutes before this place goes to hell."

"You sure?"

"No," she deadpanned, "but it sounded confident, didn't it?"

He gave a breathy, nervous laugh-half amusement, half fear.

Serena switched to the offshore accounts. Three countries. Eight dummy corporations. Tens of millions sitting cold in secret. She opened the digital tunnels and began transferring the funds, watching the numbers shift. Wire by wire, she bled the criminal elite dry.

Outside, the thunder of gunfire rattled the floor. A grenade detonated somewhere in the distance. The building shook.

And still she typed.

-

Marco slammed the blueprint against the wall, scanning the final stretch of corridor. "Vault's twenty feet ahead. You two-get the charges ready."

Two of his men broke off and pulled out the shaped explosives-military-grade, compact, devastating. They attached them to the thick steel wall framing the vault's main door, methodical despite the chaos roaring through the bank.

Marco turned to the rest of the men. "Back up. Get low."

The hallway darkened under the weight of anticipation.

Then-

BOOM!

The explosion ripped through the corridor like the roar of a beast unleashed. Smoke and dust filled the air, choking the light out of the space. Marco covered his face with his forearm and pushed forward through the haze.

The vault door-fortified and reinforced-had been split open like a tin can.

And behind it...

"Dio santo..." Marco breathed.

Gold. So much gold it hurt to look at. Bars stacked like bricks. Walls of shimmering fortune gleaming under the emergency lights. It was the stuff of legend-untouched, illegal, off-the-books wealth.

The soldiers whistled, stunned.

"What the hell are they even doing with this much?" one muttered.

"Doesn't matter," Marco barked. "Start loading!"

Duffel bags hit the floor. Gloves grabbed bars. The vault became a flurry of muscle and money as I Cobra Re swarmed in, snatching fortune by the armful.

But they weren't alone.

"Contact left!" someone yelled.

Gunfire tore through the vault entrance. Security reinforcements-riot shields and automatic weapons-stormed in. Marco cursed and dove behind a crate of gold.

"Defensive line! Now!" he roared, firing a burst from his rifle.

The clash was brutal. Steel against greed. Smoke against gold. A storm of bullets and fury. One of Marco's men went down, another pinned against the vault frame. But they held their ground, fighting back with feral precision.

"Marco, status?" Adriano's voice cracked through the comms.

"Gold secured. We're finishing up now. Heading toward the exit to cover your escape."

"Good," Adriano growled. "We'll be right behind you."

-

The progress bar inched.

62%... 63%...

Serena's forehead was slick with sweat. Her fingers didn't stop. "Come on, come on..."

Enzo, still monitoring the street cams on her tablet, paled.

"Uh... we've got a situation."

He turned the screen toward her.

Rows of black-and-white footage displayed the streets outside the bank. Police cars. Dozens of them. Sirens flashing, tires screeching, lights like angry stars.

"Oh shit," Serena said.

"They're closing in-fast."

Enzo hit comms. "Boss! Cops are inbound. We're looking at five minutes, max."

Adriano's voice came back through gritted teeth. "We'll be done before then. Marco, you finished?"

"We're on the move."

Adriano again: "Serena?"

Enzo looked at her. She didn't stop typing.

The progress bar moved like a snail.

65%... 66%...

"We're not quite done here, boss," Enzo said into the mic.

"Well whatever you're done, be quick about it!" Adriano snapped. "We're moving to the exit."

-

Outside the data room, the hallway had become a warzone. Bullets snapped into the walls. Sparks flew from ricochets. The metal cart Serena's soldiers had used for cover was riddled with holes, smoking from the assault.

Inside, Serena's fingers were still flying. Her eyes never left the screen.

67%... 68%...

Three offshore accounts down. Tens of millions rerouted into phantom companies, and the digital trail behind them? Erased. Bit by bit, Serena dissolved their fingerprints in acid.

Enzo peeked out the door. "We've got movement-right side. They're about to breach."

A soldier beside him threw a smoke grenade. The corridor exploded in fog, filling with shouts and red flashlight beams, screams, gunfire and chaos.

"Serena!" Enzo yelled.

"I know!" she snapped, fingers still a blur.

70%... 72%... 73%...

Enzo raised his rifle and fired a tight burst through the smoke. A guard dropped. Another returned fire and clipped one of their men. Blood splattered the wall. Screams echoed down the hall.

Serena never flinched.

Across the bank, Adriano, Luca, and their squad were racing toward the main exit-hauling bags stuffed with cash over their shoulders. The halls were littered with broken glass, dead guards, and a trail of destruction that screamed Il Serpente Dorato was here.

They turned a corner-

"AMBUSH!" one soldier screamed.

A wave of security forces burst from the stairwell. The air split with gunfire.

Adriano dove behind a marble pillar. Luca landed beside him, gasping. "They were waiting for us!"

"Of course they were," Adriano growled. "We triggered a fucking alarm."

He peeked around the edge, fired a few rounds. A guard went down.

Luca shouted, "Two on the right-watch it!"

Adriano spun and took one down with a shot to the throat. The other made it too close-Adriano grabbed him by the vest, ripped the man's helmet off, and slammed his skull against the wall hard enough to leave a bloody smear.

"Move!" Adriano barked, voice like thunder.

They tore down the hall, gunfire hailing behind them, until they burst through the last corridor and out into the loading dock-

Where Marco and his men were already waiting, rifles out, eyes scanning, duffel bags of gold stacked behind them.

Black, armored getaway vans pulled up, engines rumbling low. Masked drivers nodded from inside.

Luca's breath came in heavy bursts. "We're not all out yet-Serena and Enzo?"

Adriano clicked his mic. "Status?"

Back in the data room-

98%... 99%...

Then-

100%. FILE EXTRACTION COMPLETE.

Serena yanked the USB free and jammed it into her coat pocket. "Done!"

She spun, gave Enzo a high-five, her expression a cocktail of triumph and adrenaline. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

Enzo smirked, tapping her tablet. "You'll want to see this first."

The screen displayed security cam footage of the exterior.

Police cruisers. Dozens. Lining the street. Forming a barricade. Helicopter blades could be heard faintly in the distance.

"Jesus," Serena muttered.

Enzo switched comms. "Adriano. We're coming in hot."

"Copy," Adriano said. "Marco-cover them."

Marco cracked his neck. "Gladly."

Adriano, Luca, Marco, and their men were crouched in position near the vans when the air filled with sirens. The roar of engines. Boots hitting pavement.

Dozens of police officers poured in from every side.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"

The answer was a bullet.

The firefight ignited like a match to gasoline. Bullet flashes lit the loading dock. Squad cars swerved and skidded. One police cruiser exploded in a blast of orange flame.

Adriano gunned down a cop behind a dumpster. Luca grabbed a fallen rifle and dual-wielded his way through a trio of officers, barking curses in Italian as he went.

They were surrounded. Outnumbered. Pinned-

Then Enzo and Serena came flying down the hallway, ducking fire.

Marco saw them.

"NOW!" he shouted.

He pulled a grenade from his vest, yanked the pin with his teeth, and threw it straight over the line of cop cars.

"GRENADE!" someone screamed.

BOOM!

The explosion rocked the pavement. Officers scattered-some diving, others screaming as the blast blew out windows and scattered flaming wreckage across the street.

It was just the opening they needed.

"GO, GO, GO!" Adriano roared.

Enzo dragged Serena into the nearest van. Soldiers loaded in behind them, shoving duffel bags between their legs. Adriano helped lift a wounded man, blood streaking his vest, into the last vehicle.

Luca jumped in and slammed the doors shut.

"DRIVE!" Adriano ordered.

Tires screamed. Engines roared. The convoy of black vans peeled away from the curb just as more police rounded the corner. Gunfire pinged off the reinforced plating, chasing them as they sped away.

In the rearview mirror, burning squad cars, screaming cops, and the smoldering ruins of Crown Federal could be seen.

Inside the van, Serena leaned back against the wall, her chest heaving.

She looked at Adriano, who sat across from her, arms bloodied but eyes blazing.

She held up the USB.

"Everything we came for."

Adriano gave her a feral grin.

"Then we just became the most wanted people in the country."

And as the convoy roared into the shadows, Crown Federal behind them in flames, the serpent had officially shed its skin-richer, bloodier, and more dangerous than ever.