Chapter 7 - The Siege of the Upper Gallery
Adrien did not wait for the backup team to clear the basement.
He sprinted back up the concrete stairwell, taking the flights three at a time with his lungs burning like open furnaces.
The storm outside had reached peak fury, rattling the heavy structural timbers of Vale House until the floors groaned.
As he broke through the third-floor fire door into the private residential gallery, the sound of a heavy shotgun blast shattered the quiet of the estate.
The blast echoed off the vaulted mahogany ceiling, raining down plaster dust and splinters of heart pine.
Adrien dropped to one knee, rounding the corner with his weapon raised and his sight aligned.
Standing directly outside the entrance to the master bedroom was Caleb Rourke.
Caleb held a smoking twelve-gauge Remington tactical shotgun in his right hand.
At his feet lay the body of a third intruder, dressed in the same unmarked tactical black as the assassins in the basement.
A suppressed automatic rifle lay beside the dead man's outstretched fingers.
Caleb’s knuckles were bleeding, and a deep laceration ran across his forehead, dripping blood into his left eyebrow.
He turned slowly toward Adrien, the barrel of the shotgun pointed safely at the floorboards.
"Step back from that door, Caleb," Adrien commanded, his voice cold as a winter grave.
Caleb did not raise the weapon.
He let out a ragged breath and spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the hardwood.
"You think I let them in, Adrien?" Caleb asked, his voice raw with exhaustion and disgust.
"I found this bastard trying to pick the electronic keypad on your master suite thirty seconds ago."
"He had plastic zip-ties, a silenced pistol, and a duffel bag."
"They didn't come up here to kill you, boss."
"They came up here to take the little girl."
Adrien kept his Glock trained on Caleb's chest.
The note from Elena’s hand burned in his pocket like hot coals.
"Elena had a note in her fist when I found her, Caleb," Adrien said evenly.
"It said not to trust you."
Caleb stared at Adrien, his eyes widening in complete shock before settling into a hollow, wounded grimace.
"She wrote that?" Caleb whispered.
"After everything I did for her family?"
"Explain why your personal override was used to bypass the exterior perimeter fence twenty minutes ago," Adrien challenged.
Caleb dropped the shotgun with a heavy clatter, raising both hands to shoulder height.
"Because Victor stole my administrative credentials from my desk three days ago," Caleb said, his voice trembling with controlled rage.
"I caught him downloading security logs into an encrypted flash drive on Tuesday evening."
"I confronted him in the study, and he threatened to have the state licensing bureau pull our security firm's private contracting charter."
"I went to Elena because she held the physical backup ledger Mateo gave her before he died."
"I told Elena we had to bring that book to you together so Victor couldn't spin his lies."
Adrien’s mind raced through the sequence of events.
Elena had seen Caleb confronting Victor.
She hadn't known who was turning against whom; all she knew was that Caleb had suddenly demanded the ledger Mateo had sworn her to protect.
In her panic, she had assumed Caleb had flipped to the cartel.
Before Adrien could lower his weapon, the heavy oak door of the master suite clicked softly.
The door swung open four inches.
Through the gap, Mia’s pale face appeared, her dark eyes wide and fixed on the floor where the dead man lay.
She was still clutching the one-eared rabbit against her chest.
"Mr. Adrien?" she whimpered.
"The loud noise woke up my ears."
Adrien lowered his weapon instantly and stepped past Caleb, shielding the child’s vision with his broad body.
He knelt down and pulled Mia into his arms, feeling the wild, rapid fluttering of her tiny chest against his ribs.
"It’s over, Mia," he murmured, his voice softening into warmth.
"You're safe."
"Everything is all right now."
He looked up at Caleb, who was wiping the blood from his brow with the back of a bruised hand.
"Where is Victor?" Adrien asked.
"In the eastern greenhouse," Caleb said grimly.
"He took two of his personal drivers and locked himself inside the glass office."
"He thinks he’s holding out until his federal friends or the Sierra extraction chopper arrives from the regional airstrip."
Adrien stood up, carrying Mia securely on his hip.
"Gather five of our oldest men, Caleb."
May you like
"The ones who rode with Mateo in the early days."
"We are going to have a conversation with Mr. Hale."
