Private Monaco

Chapter 88

Our footsteps hammered a rapid beat across the wooden planks and fell silent when we reached the soft sand. The beach was set in a small cove, with high cliffs enclosing the golden crescent on three sides. We hurried north toward a set of roughly hewn stone steps that curved round the cliffside and led up to the summit.

We moved in single file, me first and Stamp following a few paces behind with his sub machine gun raised and ready for action. We left the beach behind us and climbed the steps, creeping to minimize noise. The stairs became more finely crafted as we neared the top and were set with a decorative inlay. I peered over the last one and saw a path that wound through ornamental woodland. It led to a large lawn, beyond which lay a swimming pool, and behind that a large, beautiful Mediterranean villa. This was the kind of home most people could only dream of, and I wondered why it wasn’t enough for Raymond Chalmont.

I caught movement to our right and saw one of Roman’s men, dressed in black, smoking a vape and kicking the ground absently as he looked at the house. He was about twenty paces away and had his back to us.

I signaled Stamp to wait. He nodded and I climbed the final few steps and crept across the tufty grass at the top of the cliff. The man in black heard me moving toward him and turned. After a moment’s shock he reached for a pistol tucked into his waistband, and I rushed him as he tried to pull it on me. He managed to get the gun out, but before he could bring it up, I hit him with my gun, catching him across the temple. The blow knocked him down and he fell still.

Stamp came up behind me and kicked the unconscious man in the ribs. I understood his anger, even if I didn’t agree with his action.

We moved on through the trees. Sunshine danced between the gently rustling branches. This would have been a beautiful spot for a family picnic, but instead of using his resources for good, Chalmont had diverted them and made this a place of evil.

We reached the end of the wood and peered across the lawn to the house. There was a circular turret to one side of the building that gave the rooms that overlooked the sea almost 360-degree views.

“Lots of open ground,” Stamp remarked, nodding at the rolling lawn.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll go first. You cover me.”

He nodded, and I took a deep breath and started across the grass.

There was no point trying to be stealthy. I was exposed and vulnerable, in the full glare of the sun, and needed to change that as quickly as possible. My heart thundered as I sprinted across the lawn. Fear heightened my senses. I looked around, alert to danger. I was about halfway between the trees and the house when I saw another black-clad gunman rush through French doors at the back and use his sub machine gun to start spraying the garden around me with bullets. The air crackled as the turf ahead of my feet was churned and shredded by bullets. The gunman moved rapidly across the terrace toward the pool house, for some cover and to get a better angle of fire on me.

I shot at him and Stamp joined the effort, lighting up the area around the pool house with heavy fire, forcing the shooter to take cover behind the small structure.

I sprinted over the final stretch of grass, ran up a grand staircase, and crouched on the patio beside the pool, taking cover behind a stone balustrade, aiming my pistol so I was ready when the man broke cover.

Suddenly aware of movement behind me, I turned and fired instinctively, hitting another gunman who’d emerged from the bushes on the far side of the swimming pool.

Stamp signaled to me from the treeline, indicating he was going to make a run for it. I knew he was trying to lure the man behind the pool house out from his protected position. I nodded, and he ran across the lawn, legs hammering at full speed.

The gunman behind the pool house broke cover to target Stamp. I trained my gun on the man and pulled the trigger twice. I shot him in the chest and he collapsed against the pool house wall and slid to the ground, his eyes glassy and lifeless.

Stamp joined me by the pool.

“You okay?” I asked.

He nodded and we set off around the swimming pool, toward the house.