Chapter 5 - The Men Who Never ExistedThe Moretti warehouse looked like a battlefield before sunrise.
Police would never see it.
Dante had controlled enough of Chicago for long enough that certain places existed in a legal twilight. Calls were redirected. Patrol cars were delayed. Security cameras developed convenient technical problems.
But even Dante could not hide eight dead men forever.
Sienna stepped around the first body.
Single bullet.
Center mass.
Second round to the head.
Professional.
No panic fire.
No wasted ammunition.
She crouched beside another man.
His weapon remained holstered.
“He never saw them.”
Dante stood behind her, silent.
The dead belonged to him.
Sienna understood the significance of that.
In Dante’s world, loyalty was currency, family, religion.
Someone had entered his territory and killed eight of his soldiers in less than ninety seconds.
The insult was strategic.
The message was personal.
Luca paced near the loading dock, radiating anger.
“No cameras caught faces. Four shooters. Maybe five. They entered through the west access point at 4:12. Left at 4:14.”
Sienna inspected a bullet hole.
“They weren’t here to steal anything.”
“No.”
“They wanted bodies.”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“To make Dante react.”
Dante finally spoke.
“They succeeded.”
Sienna stood.
“That’s what they want.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you?”
His gaze snapped toward her.
The warehouse went quiet.
Luca wisely moved farther away.
Sienna stepped closer.
“Unit 77 trained emotional escalation into operational planning. If an enemy has resources you cannot match, you manipulate him into deploying those resources badly.”
Dante stared at her.
“So they killed my men hoping I’ll become angry.”
“They killed them because they knew you would.”
“I am angry.”
“I noticed.”
“They murdered eight people who worked for me.”
“And if you send fifty armed men across Chicago hunting ghosts, they’ll watch every movement, map every route, identify every safe house and every lieutenant.”
Dante’s nostrils flared.
Sienna continued.
“This attack wasn’t violence. It was reconnaissance.”
Luca frowned.
“They killed eight guys to see how we respond?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“No.”
Sienna looked at the symbol painted on the wall.
“That’s Unit 77.”
Dante studied her.
“You keep speaking about them like you’re not one of them.”
“I stopped being one of them the day Kane ordered my execution.”
“Were you like this?”
The question struck harder than she expected.
Sienna looked at him.
“What?”
“When you were with them.”
He gestured to the bodies.
“Did you do things like this?”
She could lie.
She had spent years becoming excellent at it.
But something about Dante made lying feel more dangerous than truth.
“Yes.”
Luca stopped pacing.
Sienna continued quietly.
“Not civilians. Not random targets. But yes. We created pressure. We manipulated people. We attacked secondary assets to force primary targets into predictable behavior.”
Dante’s jaw flexed.
“And you want me to trust you.”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“I want you to understand me.”
She looked toward the dead.
“I am not asking forgiveness for the person I was.”
“Good.”
Dante walked closer.
“Because I’m not qualified to give it.”
Their eyes met.
For a moment, something unspoken passed between them.
Neither was innocent.
Perhaps that was why they could see each other so clearly.
Nero entered carrying a hardened laptop.
“I found something.”
Dante turned.
“Orpheus?”
“Part of it.”
Nero opened the computer on a crate.
“The transmission timer isn’t tied to the hard drive. Kane was telling the truth about that.”
“Where is it tied?”
“A decentralized server network.”
Sienna frowned.
“Impossible. Unit 77 didn’t maintain infrastructure inside the United States.”
“Apparently somebody did.”
Nero enlarged a city map.
Seven red circles appeared across Chicago.
“Network traffic is bouncing through seven relay nodes.”
Dante stared.
“Where?”
Nero pointed.
“A bank tower. A hospital. A university server farm. Two commercial data centers. One municipal records facility.”
He paused.
“And Moretti Tower.”
Luca swore.
Dante’s face became stone.
Sienna leaned toward the screen.
“Someone installed a relay inside your building?”
“Not possible,” Luca said.
“Everything is possible.”
Dante looked at Nero.
“Find it.”
“Already searching.”
A shot cracked through the warehouse.
Sienna reacted before thought.
She hit Dante at the waist.
Both crashed behind a forklift.
A second bullet punched through the metal crate where Dante’s head had been.
“Sniper!” Luca shouted.
Men scattered.
Sienna drew her pistol.
“North roof!”
She had recognized the angle from impact.
Dante tried to rise.
Sienna shoved him down.
“You’re the target.”
“I noticed.”
“You stay here.”
“I don’t take orders.”
“You do when someone is shooting at your face.”
Another bullet struck.
Sienna moved.
She sprinted toward a side door.
“Sienna!”
Dante’s shout followed her.
She ignored it.
Outside, cold morning air slapped her face.
The neighboring buildings formed a canyon of brick and steel.
She scanned rooftops.
Nothing.
Then movement.
A shadow.
She ran.
The sniper relocated professionally, never staying after three shots.
Unit protocol.
Sienna cut through an alley and climbed a fire ladder two rungs at a time.
Her shoulder screamed from an old injury.
She ignored it.
On the roof, she saw him.
Black tactical clothing.
Suppressed rifle.
He was already moving toward the opposite side.
“Stop!”
He turned.
For half a second, their eyes met.
Sienna knew him.
“Marcus?”
The man froze.
Marcus Vale.
Unit 77.
Recon specialist.
Her teammate.
Her friend.
The man who had carried her six miles through the Afghan mountains after she had taken shrapnel in the leg.
“Sienna.”
Hearing her real name in his voice hurt more than it should have.
“Put the rifle down.”
Marcus looked older.
Harder.
A scar crossed his temple.
“You should have stayed dead.”
She raised her weapon.
“You shot at me?”
“Not you.”
“Dante.”
“He’s contaminating the mission.”
“There is no mission.”
“There is always a mission.”
Sienna moved sideways.
“Is Kane alive?”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“You heard the recording.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“Kane can clear everything.”
“He framed me.”
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I know he put my face on every federal watch list in America.”
Marcus lowered the rifle slightly.
“You stole information that could destroy the unit.”
“Because the unit was selling operations.”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Sienna saw it.
“You know.”
Marcus said nothing.
“You know what he did.”
“You don’t understand the scale.”
“Then explain it.”
“Not here.”
Sienna laughed bitterly.
“You just murdered eight men.”
“They were Moretti soldiers.”
“They were human beings.”
“You never cared about that before.”
The words landed.
Marcus saw it.
Regretted it.
But too late.
Sienna’s voice became quiet.
“Maybe I should have.”
Behind her, the rooftop access door opened.
Dante emerged with his pistol raised.
Marcus instantly aimed.
Sienna moved between them.
“No!”
Dante stopped.
His gun remained trained over her shoulder.
“Move, Sienna.”
“No.”
“He shot at me.”
“I’m aware.”
Marcus stared at Dante.
“So this is him.”
Dante’s expression was murderous.
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re having a very bad morning.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Kane said you’d be exactly like your father.”
Dante went still.
Sienna felt the change.
“Don’t.”
Marcus continued.
“Antonio Moretti made the same mistake.”
Dante stepped forward.
“What mistake?”
“Thinking he could walk away.”
Sienna looked sharply at Marcus.
“Walk away from what?”
Marcus’s eyes remained on Dante.
“Project Orpheus.”
The wind swept across the rooftop.
Dante lowered his pistol by one inch.
“My father was involved.”
“Your father helped build it.”
Sienna’s heart pounded.
“What is Orpheus?”
Marcus looked at her.
“The reason Unit 77 exists.”
Then an impact exploded from the building beside them.
Not a gunshot.
A detonation.
Concrete fragments sprayed across the roof.
Sienna hit the ground.
Dante landed beside her.
Marcus rolled behind an air-conditioning unit.
A second sniper.
Another team.
“They’re shooting at him too!” Sienna shouted.
Marcus fired toward the opposite building.
Dante looked at her.
“Your friends aren’t very friendly.”
“They’re not my friends!”
Across the street, muzzle flashes appeared.
Marcus yelled.
“Kane sent me to bring you in! He didn’t send them!”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know!”
A bullet tore through Marcus’s shoulder.
He spun and fell.
Sienna ran to him.
Dante covered her.
Marcus was bleeding heavily.
She pressed her hand over the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Marcus grabbed her wrist.
“Courthouse.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He coughed.
“Don’t go.”
Sienna stared.
“You just told me to come with you.”
Marcus’s eyes were becoming unfocused.
“That was before I saw them.”
“Who?”
“The cleaners.”
Sienna felt cold.
Unit 77 had a final protocol.
If an operation became compromised beyond recovery, a cleanup team eliminated everyone involved.
Targets.
Assets.
Agents.
Witnesses.
Everyone.
Marcus whispered.
“Kane lost control.”
Then his eyes shifted toward Dante.
“Your mother.”
Dante crouched beside him.
“What about my mother?”
Marcus struggled to breathe.
“Ask... Elena.”
“Who is Elena?”
Marcus’s grip loosened.
“Your sister.”
Dante froze.
“My sister is dead.”
Marcus looked directly at him.
“No.”
Then his eyes closed.
Sienna checked his pulse.
Weak.
Alive.
“Get medical downstairs.”
Dante did not move.
“Dante.”
“My sister died with my mother.”
“Apparently she didn’t.”
He stared at Marcus.
For the first time since Sienna had met him, Dante Moretti looked genuinely shaken.
The explosion of another bullet against concrete snapped him back.
He grabbed Marcus beneath one arm.
“Move.”
Together they dragged him toward the stairwell while Luca’s men returned fire from below.
By the time they reached the warehouse, Nero was waiting.
His face was white.
“What happened?”
“Later,” Dante said. “Doctor. Now.”
Nero nodded toward his laptop.
“You need to see this first.”
Dante nearly exploded.
“I said—”
“I found the relay in Moretti Tower.”
That stopped him.
“Where?”
Nero turned the screen around.
The relay had been installed years earlier.
Not weeks.
Not months.
Seventeen years earlier.
It was registered inside a sealed architectural section on the forty-seventh floor.
Dante frowned.
“There is no forty-seventh floor access.”
“There is.”
Nero zoomed into an old blueprint.
A hidden room existed behind the executive elevator shaft.
Owner authorization code:
A. MORETTI.
Antonio Moretti.
Dante slowly looked at Sienna.
“My father built the relay.”
“And if Marcus is telling the truth,” she said, “he also knew Project Orpheus.”
Dante looked toward the ceiling as though he could see through forty-seven floors of concrete.
“My mother died seventeen years ago.”
Sienna understood.
The relay had been installed the same year.
Dante’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Take Marcus upstairs.”
He handed the wounded man to Luca.
Then he looked at Sienna.
“We’re opening that room.”
She checked her weapon.
“Together.”
Dante nodded.
“Together.”
Behind them, painted across the warehouse wall, the Unit 77 symbol seemed less like a threat now.
It was a map.
One leading backward through Sienna’s life.
May you like
One leading backward through Dante’s.
And somewhere at the beginning of both paths waited Project Orpheus.
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