Chapter 6 - Shadows in the Estate
The emergency backup generators should have kicked on within four seconds. They didn't.
Grace immediately drew a concealed Glock 19 from a holster tucked beneath her black jacket, racking the slide with a crisp, lethal *clack*.
"They cut the main feed and severed the auxiliary diesel lines in the sub-basement," Grace whispered in the pitch-black room. "They’re already inside."
Ethan reached into his desk drawer, pulling out a small steel safe. He pressed his thumb against the biometric sensor, and the lid sprang open, revealing a matte-black Sig Sauer P320.
Grace raised an eyebrow in the dim moonlight filtering through the terrace glass. "You know how to use that?"
"Victoria’s father was a Marine," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a deadly calm. "He made sure I spent two hundred hours on the range before he let me marry his daughter."
"Good," Grace said. "Rule number one: check your targets. Rule number two: don't hesitate. If you see someone who isn't wearing a Caldwell security badge, put two rounds in their chest."
Suddenly, the heavy mahogany double doors of the study shattered inward.
A flashbang grenade bounced across the parquet floor, detonating with a deafening *CRACK-FLASH* that showered the room in blinding white light and concussive sound.
Ethan reeled backward, his ears ringing with high-pitched feedback. But Grace had already anticipated the breach. She had dropped behind the heavy oak desk, shielding her eyes and opening her mouth to equalize the ear pressure.
Through the swirling smoke, two shadowy figures in dark tactical gear and night-vision goggles moved into the room, their suppressed carbines raised.
*PHT-PHT-PHT!*
Grace fired three rapid shots from beneath the desk. The first intruder took two rounds to the center chest plate, stumbling backward, while the third bullet found the exposed junction at his neck. He dropped instantly.
The second operative swung his rifle toward Grace’s position, but Ethan lunged from the side, bringing his Sig Sauer up and firing twice. The heavy 9mm rounds struck the gunman’s shoulder and chest, spinning him around before he crashed into a glass display case of antique nautical instruments.
"Move!" Grace shouted, grabbing Ethan by the arm and hauling him toward the private corridor leading to Lily’s room.
The corridor was illuminated only by the faint green glow of emergency exit signs. As they reached the nursery suite, Grace’s blood ran cold.
The heavy security door was slightly ajar.
Grace kicked it open, sweeping the room with her weapon.
Agent Sarah Chen lay unconscious on the rug, a dark pool of blood spreading from a laceration on her temple.
The armchair in the corner was empty. Lily’s velvet rabbit lay abandoned on the floor, its white fur stained with grease.
And standing near the shattered terrace door, the wind from the incoming thunderstorm whipping her ruined wedding veil, was Sabrina.
She had abandoned the torn silk dress, now wearing a dark tactical jumpsuit. In her right hand was a compact machine pistol; with her left arm, she held Lily tightly against her torso, her gloved hand clamped firmly over the little girl’s mouth.
Lily’s eyes were wide with terror, tears streaming down her pale cheeks as she struggled weakly against Sabrina’s grip.
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"Lower your weapons," Sabrina purred, her voice dripping with venom. "Or I drop her forty floors down to the pavement."
***
