Chapter 18 - The Steel in My Veins
"Clara," Vance’s voice cut through the rain, calm and mocking as he walked toward the ditch, holding a silenced pistol down at his side. "You have proved to be far more resource-heavy than your late sister estimated. But you misunderstand the nature of this transaction. You were never negotiating from a position of power."
Marcus kicked the driver's door open with explosive force, using the heavy metal door as a battering ram to knock the first operative into the mud. Marcus drew his sidearm in a fluid, lethal motion, firing two rapid shots that struck the second man’s body armor, sending him reeling backward.
"Get to the house!" Marcus roared at me, firing another shot to suppress Vance's men as they returned fire. "Noah’s nanny is in the panic room! Go, Clara! I'll hold the perimeter!"
"I'm not leaving you!" I screamed over the roar of gunfire and thunder.
"GO! Protect our son!"
That word—*our son*—shattered through my terror like lightning.
I scrambled out of the passenger door into the mud, ducking low behind the stone wall as bullets chipped into the granite above my head. I ran through the dark orchard, my lungs burning, the rain blinding me. Every maternal instinct in my body turned to pure, unadulterated steel.
They weren't taking him. They would have to tear the earth apart before they took Noah from me.
I reached the back patio of the estate in three minutes. The glass doors were intact, but the alarm system was shrieking its high-pitched warning throughout the dark house. I punched the emergency override code into the keypad, slipping inside and locking the reinforced deadbolts behind me.
I sprinted down the hall toward the master suite, where the concealed panic room was built into the reinforced walk-in closet.
"Maria!" I called out in a desperate whisper, tapping the hidden sequence on the oak paneling. "Maria, it’s Clara! Open the door!"
The heavy steel door clicked and slid open two inches. Maria, pale and trembling, looked out, holding Noah tightly against her shoulder. Noah’s eyes were wide, but he wasn't crying; he reached his little arms toward me the moment he saw my face.
"Mama!" he cried softly.
I pulled them both into my arms, slamming the heavy steel panic door shut and engaging the hydraulic lock. The four-inch ballistic steel sealed with a heavy mechanical clunk that resonated through the floor.
Inside, the panic room had four dedicated monitor screens displaying the external security cameras.
May you like
I looked at the primary screen.
Marcus was down on one knee in the front driveway. He had neutralized the two operatives, but blood was soaking through his left shoulder, and Julian Vance was standing ten paces away, raising his weapon directly at Marcus’s head.