"Two Knights Tango"


As had been done to Aaron Cicero, Section Two literally "put the screws" to Franco in order to break him and get him to talk, learning that Dante's current base of operations lay on the island of La Maddalena, just off the northern tip of Sardinia.

Lorenzo went to Defense Minister Petris and secured the use of an MQ-1 Predator reconnaissance UAV dispatched from the 32° Stormo at Amendola Air Force Base in Foggia. It located multiple targets of interest and Amadeo and Giorgio were dispatched to check them out, along with Alessandro and Petrushka.

Using contacts and charm, Sandro identified a rental property located on a rocky outcropping in the northern part of the island, on the opposite side of Porto Massimo that was rumored to be used on occasion as a safe house by Sardinian independence and pro-Five Republics members.

They rented a 7m cabin cruiser boat in a marina in a cove down the way and sailed out to the Isolotti Barrettineli, which lay in between the two major ferry lanes to Palau from Naples and Genoa. From there, they deployed a STRIX mini UAV to watch over the area for vehicular or boat traffic.

They were soon rewarded with a 12m motor cruiser approaching from Naples. They tracked it to a small dock near the house and saw three men depart, but they were all in large hooded jackets and could not be positively identified. The information was relayed back to the Ministry of Defense and from there to Section 2. Lorenzo cleared the two Croce fratelli to take out the location. Alessandro and Petrushka were recalled, though Amadeo and Giorgio remained behind to keep tabs on the house.


"Why can't we just bomb the place with a Predator like the Americans are now doing in Afghanistan?" Triela groused as she lugged the carrying case holding the Beretta-built version of the Rheinmetall MG 42/59 machine gun to the back of Hillshire's E350 wagon. She placed it on the floor and shoved it forward.

"Because we don't know who exactly is in the house and it suddenly going up in flames from an aerial attack would draw attention. La Maddalena is a popular tourist area this time of year," Hillshire noted.

Triela shrugged. She then lifted a duffel bag with four cases of belt-fed 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition and placed it next to it, followed by the case for her H&K MP7A1, adding it to the pile.

Rico loaded the case holding her Dragunov SVD into the trunk of Jean's CLS500, followed by Henrietta with her Amati violin case containing her FN P90 PDW. Henrietta had barely slept the previous night as she meticulously cleaned her P90 and P239 to be sure they were absolutely perfect. She still felt she'd let Jose down in Venice when she'd lost hold of her P90 as well as guilty that Dante had escaped so she promised herself she'd be perfect this time.

Jean, Jose, Rico and Henrietta boarded the CL500 and Hillshire and Triela the E350 and the two cars headed to the Fiumicino ferry dock and boarded the car ferry for the 14:30 sailing to Golfo Aranci, Sardinia. They arrived a bit under four hours later and once they offloaded from the ferry, they drove north to Palau and caught the 20:30 sailing to La Maddalena.

Jean itched to head to the safe house and take it out, but they'd been on the road and sea for some seven hours and fatigue had set in. They checked into a small hotel in the town and went to sleep.


They awoke at 04:00, roughly 90 minutes before sunrise, and returned to their vehicles. They drove along the eastern edge of the Parco Nazionale dell'Arcipelago di La Maddalena and up to the top of the island, just south of the resort town of Porto Massimo. They crossed the top and followed a side road that led to the safe house. They parked about 1 kilometer away and unpacked their weapons before proceeding towards the house under natural cover. However, as the girls all wore normal street clothes and their handlers dressed in suits, they stood out more then blended in with their surroundings.

The house's architecture was long and narrow and aligned parallel to the promontory so the windows faced the bay on either side. Rico set up her position about 500m away, choosing the tallest hill in the area so the MG3 and her SVD could cover both the front and the back as well as the beach area in case they made a run for the boat.

The other five continued forward, on the lookout for any early risers as they crept along the dunes and granite outcroppings, eschewing the main drive that led up a multi-car garage. They stopped about 50m away and looked for motion sensors or infrared sensors, but found nothing. Henrietta and Triela continued forward, weapons at the ready.

"When you two go inside, Henrietta you go left and Triela you go right. Eliminate any targets, regardless of type. Do you understand?" Jean asked. Both girls answered that they did.

Henrietta and Triela crept around the side of the house to the back, crouching along a low stone wall facing a small garden plot. They verified their weapons were locked and loaded. Again they examined the back porch for sensor devices, but found none.

By now, the sun's rays lit the eastern horizon, though most of the house remained in darkness and shadow. They carefully stepped across the patio, the leather soles of Henrietta's loafers and Triela's brogues echoing softly off the stones. They approached a large sliding glass door and again made a check for sensors, finding none.

Triela removed a glass cutter from a pouch on her belt. She checked to ensure there was carpeting on the other side and then cut a hole 120mm in diameter, softly popping the glass inside where it bounced off the carpet. She then reached in with gloved hands to unlatch the lock, slowly opening the door to minimize the noise it made.

"We're going in," Triela noted over her headset microphone as she followed Henrietta through the open portal. Hillshire moved forward to cover the front while Jose went to the back and Jean held back to be able to support either side.

Henrietta didn't see the glass table in front of her, and she barked her shins on the edge as she stepped forward. While the inside of the room bordered on pitch dark, Triela's MP7A1 carried an infrared illuminator which allowed the infrared photoreceptors in their cybernetic eyes to see in the darkness. Unfortunately for them, it also informed Dante's men down the hall, armed with night-vision goggles that they were coming.

Almost six months of ducking Italian security forces had honed Giacomo Dante's senses and intuition. When Aşık's boat arived, Dante noticed a flash of sunlight in the sky. He ordered his men to scan the sky with binoculars and they quickly located the UAV circling overhead. Knowing their cover had been blown, they also knew that escape would be impossible with the UAV overhead, so they instead chose to hunker down and wait for the government to come to them. They set-up sentries to watch the road and both water approaches and they'd identified the group coming towards them as they crept through the trees.

Two hallways bisected the house, one parallel to the general plan from which the various rooms branched off of and one perpendicular, connecting the front and back entrances. As the girls approached the nexus where the two met, Triela went right while Henrietta went left. Each started down the hall. Triela was taking her fourth step when a set of forearms and hands gripping an MP5A4 popped out into the hall and opened fire. The 9mm rounds hit Triela square in the chest, knocking her back on her butt. She immediately recovered, however, and sent a stream of armor piercing 4.6x30mm rounds through the surrounding wall and into the shooter, knocking him back against the open door of the kitchen.

Henrietta charged forward, surprising the gunman with the HK53 waiting in the first bedroom for her to pass. She ducked under him and raised her P90 up and fired, stitching him from abdomen to chest, the armor-piercing 5.7x28mm rounds easily penetrating his light ballistic armor and sending him sprawling backwards.

Down the hall, Triela hopped back onto her feet and came forward. She nudged the corpse on the kitchen floor with her foot and saw one of her rounds had gone through his face and into his brain, killing him instantly.

In the bedroom, Henrietta heard movement behind her and whirled and dropped to one knee. She brought up her P90, centered on the man coming out of the bedroom across the way and drilled him through the chest with a short burst.


When he heard the shooting, Hillshire rushed forward, kicking in the front door. He stayed clear of the door in case anybody fired at him, and then slowly came in, staying against the wall. In the back, Jose stayed outside, covering the terrace area.


In a detached outbuilding about five meters away, Giacomo Dante had watched the Agency forces approach. Armed with an HK G3KA4 carbine, he waited for them to launch the attack on the house. When he saw the man in the front kick down the door and enter, he made a break for it, heading for the beach and the motor boat docked there.


Jean saw the figure come out of the building and he raised his pistol, firing three rounds in quick succession.

Dante's body armor absorbed the rounds, causing him to stumble, but not fall. He swung his G3KA4 and fired off a long burst, forcing Jean to drop into a crouch as 7.62x51mm NATO ball rounds slammed into the wall around him.

Dante ducked behind the house and then popped back out into the open, heading down towards the beach. Jean had picked himself back up and gave chase, stopping at the edge of the house. He took aim at Dante again and fired five more rounds, but they all went wide. Dante again returned fire, spraying the edge of the house and forcing Jean back.

The movement and gunfire caught Rico's eye and she set her SVD against her shoulder and sighted on the target. She identified the target as Giacomo Dante and fired. The 7.62x54mmR round lanced out and shattered Dante's skull, dropping him in his steps.


Inside the house, Triela checked the laundry room and garage, but found nobody. Henrietta continued to the common bathroom at the end of the hall, but also found nothing. Hillshire identified himself and stepped into the living room, quickly joined by Henrietta and Triela. They stepped out on the terrace and saw Jean and Jose standing side-by-side over a body.

Henrietta ran out to Jose, ignoring the corpse.

"Did you get him?" she asked.

"Yes, he's dead," Jose said, a sense of relief in his voice.

"I'm so happy for you, Jose!" Henrietta squealed. She dropped her P90 on the ground and hugged Jose tightly, tears of joy streaming down her face.

Rico walked up to Jean, her SVD draped over her back. "Did I do well, Jean?" she asked.

"You did marvelous, my precious angelo vendicatore," Jean said, reaching out to draw her to him.

"Come on, Triela. Let's leave them alone," Hillshire said, turning and walking back into the living room.