The roar of the engines outside was different this time. It wasn't the refined purr of the black SUVs from the city; it was the aggressive, high-pitched whine of off-road bikes and the heavy rumble of a truck that didn't care about the stone fences of the olive grove.
Sofia didn't panic. She reached behind the door and grabbed a heavy iron bolt, sliding it into place with a definitive clack. "Get the children into the cellar," she commanded, her voice as cold as the mountain spring. "Eleni, now!"
Ben was on his feet before Sofia finished her sentence, his handgun already cleared and ready. He looked like a ghost under the flickering yellow light of the kitchen—pale, sweating, but possessed by a sudden, terrifying focus.
"They're not Silas's regulars," Ben muttered, peering through a crack in the heavy wooden shutters. "These are the hounds. The ones he uses when he doesn't care about a clean cleanup."
"Back room. The trapdoor under the rug," Sofia hissed at Eleni, who was already scooping up a confused and shivering Mia. Leo followed, his face a mask of pale terror, clutching a kitchen knife like it could stop a bullet.
Eleni shoved the rug aside in the small pantry, revealing a heavy wooden trapdoor. "Leo, get in first. Take Mia. Don't make a sound. If you hear shooting, do not come out. Do you hear me?"
"Eleni, come with us," Leo pleaded, his voice cracking.
"I'll be right behind you," she lied, her eyes meeting Ben's for a split second across the hallway. There was an understanding there—a dark, unspoken contract. She wasn't a florist anymore; she was the wall between the monsters and her child.
She slammed the trapdoor shut just as the first window shattered in the front of the house.
The living room was a chaos of shadows. Ben stood to the side of the fireplace, using the stone hearth as cover. Sofia was at the other end, her old shotgun tucked firmly into her shoulder.
"You shouldn't be here, boy," Sofia said, her eyes fixed on the front door. "You brought this fire to my doorstep."
"I'm the one who's going to put it out," Ben replied. "Sofia, when they hit the door, aim low. They'll be wearing vests."
"I've been hunting boar in these hills since before you were born, Shadow," Sofia snapped. "I know where to aim."
The front door didn't just open; it exploded inward under the weight of a ram. Two figures in tactical gear and balaclavas lunged through the dust.
The roar of Sofia's shotgun was deafening in the small space, the recoil shaking her sturdy frame but not her aim. One of the men went down with a scream. Ben followed up with three precise shots—pop, pop, pop—dropping the second man before he could even raise his rifle.
"More coming!" Ben yelled over the ringing in his ears. "They're circling to the back!"
Eleni didn't stay in the pantry. She found a heavy brass fire poker near the stove and stood by the back entrance. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it might bruise her ribs.
"Breathe, Eleni. You're the hunter," she whispered to herself, echoing Ben's words from the night before.
A silhouette appeared at the back window. Before the glass could even fall, Eleni swung. The heavy brass caught the man across the temple with a sickening thud. He collapsed backward into the dirt. She didn't feel sick. She didn't feel afraid. She felt a cold, crystalline rage.
Ben appeared beside her, checking the man's pulse—or lack thereof—and then looked at her. A strange, grim respect flashed in his eyes.
"The truck," Ben said, pointing toward the yard where a heavy 4x4 was idling. "We can't stay here. If we stay, they'll just burn the house down with everyone inside."
"We can't leave Sofia and the kids!" Eleni shouted.
"We take the truck," Ben said, grabbing her arm. "We lead them away. Dimitris is waiting at the secondary pier with the boat. If we pull the hounds toward the coast, Leo and Sofia can slip out through the goat paths in an hour."
Sofia appeared from the smoke, reloading her shotgun with steady hands. "He's right, Eleni. They want him. And they want the girl who embarrassed the Accountant. If you stay, you're just giving them a bigger target. Go. I'll keep the boy and the little bird safe. No one knows these hills like I do."
Eleni looked at Sofia, then at the pantry where her life was hidden. "If anything happens to them..."
"I'll see you in hell before I let that happen," Sofia promised, her voice softening for just a moment. "Now move! Before the next wave gets here!"
They ran for the truck. Ben hot-wired the ignition in seconds, the engine roaring to life. Eleni jumped into the passenger seat, clutching the fire poker and Ben's spare magazine.
As they tore out of the olive grove, two motorcycles swerved to follow them, their headlights dancing wildly in the rearview mirror.
"They're on us!" Eleni yelled.
"Keep your head down!" Ben shouted, floorng the accelerator. The truck bounced violently over the uneven terrain, heading toward the steep cliffs of the coastline.
Ben handed her his phone. "Dial the number on the screen. It's Dimitris."
Eleni's fingers shook as she hit call. "Dimitris? We're coming. We have company."
"I see the lights on the ridge, girl," the old man's voice crackled. "The 'Maria' is warmed up. But you've got a tail. You bring them to the pier, and we're all dead fish."
"We're not going to the pier yet," Ben cut in, grabbing the phone. "Dimitris, get the boat to the salt caves. We're going to lose them in the quarry."
Ben threw the phone into Eleni's lap and yanked the steering wheel to the left. The truck skidded sideways, narrowly missing a massive pine tree, and plummeted down a steep, dirt-filled slope into an abandoned stone quarry.
"What are you doing?" Eleni screamed, gripping the dashboard.
"Giving them a show," Ben said, his jaw set.
He killed the headlights. The world went black, save for the pale moonlight reflecting off the white limestone walls of the quarry. Behind them, the two motorcycles slowed down, their beams searching the darkness like desperate eyes.
Ben pulled the truck behind a massive slab of cut stone and killed the engine. Silence rushed back in, heavy and suffocating.
"Why did we stop?" Eleni whispered.
"Because I'm tired of running," Ben said. He looked at her, his face illuminated by the faint glow of the dashboard. "Eleni, if we get on that boat, there's no coming back. Not to the shop. Not to the neighborhood. You're leaving Athens forever."
"I left Athens the moment I let you into my shop, Benson," she replied, her voice low and firm. "Just get us to that boat."
Suddenly, a flare ignited in the sky above the quarry, bathing everything in a harsh, artificial red light.
The hounds had found them. And they weren't just on bikes anymore. High on the ridge, a second truck appeared, and Eleni saw the long, thin barrel of a high-caliber rifle pointing directly at their windshield.