Týn Church.
Beneath the centuries-old Gothic spires, deep under the stone floor,
lay a forgotten dungeon built in the late fifteenth century by the Camorra family.
It had once served as a place of punishment a secret prison where traitors to the family were interrogated and executed.
Later, as wars and political chaos swept across Europe, the Camorra family relocated to Rome, leaving this place abandoned for centuries.
When the family rose to power again, they attempted to restore the Prague site as a new branch headquarters.
Repairs were made, halls rebuilt.
But during that time,
Camorra assassins began dying one after another ambushed by a rival "evil" organization.
In the end, they abandoned the project.
The underground complex was turned into a real church,
maintained by a handful of elderly Camorra loyalists.
Now that very dungeon had once again become a gathering place.
A temporary command base.
Inside one of the dimly lit chambers, Cassian sat alone.
A thick stack of documents lay in his hands all meticulously compiled by him.
Each page recorded details about Alex Cross,
his lieutenants Anna, Fox, Nikita, the Sisterhood,
as well as John Wick and the ten elite "blue-ranked" assassins under his command.
Every encounter, every kill record, every rumor.
There were notes like:
"Anna battle against Night Demon at New York Airport."
"Fox and Nikita three operations during White Widow's European tour."
He had even divided them by combat level:
Alex Cross – Strength: Unmeasurable.
Anna, Fox, John Wick – Equal to Cassian's own level.
Nikita, Sisterhood – Equivalent to Ares.
Ten blue-ranked killers – Equal to the family's elite unit.
Four neat columns of names.
Over the next few days, three hundred assassins would gather here.
One of the largest elite mobilizations in Camorra history.
Cassian's mission
to craft a flawless plan.
Every detail had to be accounted for
who would engage whom, how long they'd stall,
and how much time he'd need to get his one shot…
to kill Alex Cross.
But even as he worked,
he couldn't silence one question in his mind—
Could he really kill him?
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
The "open bounty" on Alex Cross still hung high across the assassin network.
Every now and then,
a few reckless killers would ride the elevator to the top floor of the Continental,
hoping to claim the bounty.
But the moment they saw the corridor lined with killers
they either threw themselves into a bloodbath and died within seconds,
or quietly pressed the elevator button and fled back down.
Daniel had visited Alex Cross twice during these two days.
To avoid misunderstandings, Alex Cross had him show Eve the X-shaped scar on his arm.
At first, Eve had nearly pulled her gun right there, ready to blow his brains out.
But after Alex Cross explained everything,
her hatred faded replaced by a trace of sympathy.
When Daniel knelt and swore allegiance to Alex Cross,
Alex Cross gave him a "Eight of Clubs" card.
Unlike John Wick or Caine, however,
Daniel was to continue working as a hitman under the Lighthouse Organization
but his daughter would finally live a normal life.
Meanwhile, Becky kept reporting new findings:
"Sir, every few hours, more suspicious people enter Týn Church…
None of them have come out."
Alex Cross's only response was the same, calm command:
"Keep watching."
For now, Prague seemed peaceful again.
Even the Hallstatt tribe's assassins had vanished from sight.
Not surprising after the joint operations led by Daniel, Lina, and Alex Cross,the tribe had lost over a hundred of its killers.
Half of their European operatives were gone.
The old Village Chief knew better now
he wouldn't waste more lives in slow attrition.
He'd wait.
He'd hold all his remaining assassins until the moment Alex Cross dared to strike the village.
Day Six.
Noon.
Seven armored transport trucks rolled into the Continental Hotel's underground parking lot.
White Widow descended with Fox, Nikita, and ten elite assassins,
meeting the hotel manager to sign off on the delivery.
Crates of weapons were unloaded
and carried straight into the Continental's armory.
Anna Pario inspected each weapon personally.
All premium-grade flawless.
She nodded in satisfaction.
After a brief discussion with White Widow,
they signed a long-term procurement deal with the Lighthouse Organization:
a quarterly contract worth $3 million, ensuring continuous supply of custom firearms and ammunition.
When the unloading was done,
the seven trucks didn't leave.
Hidden inside their false compartments was another, secret shipment
agreed upon long before leaving New York.
Originally, the plan was to smuggle these weapons through the Russian mafia deal,
then reroute them from Berlin to Prague.
But after arriving at the Continental,
Alex Cross and White Widow revised the plan.
If the hotel agreed to buy, they'd deliver directly.
If not they'd follow the Berlin route.
Inside the trucks lay fifty H&K HK21 general-purpose machine guns,
and fifty thousand rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.
Each weapon hidden in reinforced compartments,
spread across all seven vehicles.
They had crossed the ocean from New York
every driver, guard, and loader on board was a Lighthouse assassin in disguise.
Twenty-one in total.
Everything about their arrival seemed legitimate
so much so that neither the Hallstatt tribe nor the Camorra family suspected a thing.
They thought the convoy was just another logistics delivery.
But Alex Cross
had been waiting these two extra days for this exact shipment.
That night, 11:00 p.m.
After confirming the cargo,
Alex Cross led White Widow, Anna, and the others to the parking lot.
Three SUVs and seven heavy trucks rolled out of the Continental.
By the time the other factions noticed and tried to report it
the convoy had already vanished into the darkness beyond Prague.
Ten vehicles.
No trace left behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Explore my latest work -> Attack on Titan: Chronicles of the Lightborne Titan.
----------------------
T/N:
Caught up with the raws. The author is on a break right now. Hopefully he'll be back soon so that this fic can be continued asap.
