Chapter 19 - The Weapon in the Dark
June touched my arm, signaling me to stop.
We crouched behind the wooden balustrade of the service landing, twenty feet above the slate kitchen floor.
The children were buried in our shoulders, neither making a single sound.
The operative below stepped toward the center island, his combat boots clicking softly against the stone.
He raised his radio to his shoulder.
"Kitchen clear. Moving toward the pantry."
"Negative," a voice crackled through his earpiece, loud enough to drift up to our ears.
"Ashford says the safe in the study was empty."
"The ledger has to be in the underground dry storage."
"Search every shelf."
The man pushed open the pantry door—the very door June and I had stood outside mere hours ago.
He stepped inside, his flashlight beam illuminating the tall wooden shelves, the jars of preserved fruit, and the rows of fine vintage wines.
"Arthur," June whispered, her lips brushing my ear.
"The circuit breaker for the walk-in refrigeration vault is right behind that shelf."
"If you cut the secondary line, the hydraulic magnetic door locks instantly."
"It's rated for commercial fire containment."
"It has no interior manual release."
I realized what she was proposing.
"You'll have to distract him for four seconds," I whispered back.
June gently set Lila down beside Mateo against the wall, kissing her forehead.
"Stay right here, my brave girl," she murmured.
Then, June took a heavy decorative iron sconce off the wall and tossed it down into the dark dining room.
The iron clattered across the parquet flooring with a deafening rattle.
"Movement in the dining hall!" the operative barked, spinning on his heel and lunging toward the kitchen exit.
In that exact second, I leaped from the bottom step of the service stair, landing squarely behind him.
I slammed the heavy steel-reinforced pantry door shut with all my weight.
The operative turned in panic, raising his weapon, but the door slammed into the frame before he could level the barrel.
I threw the deadbolt and flipped the commercial refrigeration breaker downward.
The hydraulic seals hissed violently.
Four steel rods shot out from the door frame, locking the heavy slab of oak and steel into the masonry.
The operative pounded on the reinforced wood with his rifle butt, screaming curses into the muffled interior.
He was trapped.
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"Arthur!" June cried out from the top of the stairs.
"Look out!"
