Chapter 11 - The Ambush on the Street
The deafening crack of gunfire echoed down the quiet suburban street, sending a flock of startled pigeons exploding into the bright afternoon sky. Marcus Sterling slumped forward against the open door of the black sedan, his rimless glasses sliding down his nose and clattering onto the pavement. A dark crimson stain bloomed rapidly across the back of his tailored grey suit.
“Get down!” Julian roared, grabbing Sophia by the waist and tackling her behind the sturdy wooden posts of the white picket fence.
Panic erupted instantly around them. Shouts echoed from fifty yards away as the bewildered police officers drew their weapons, scrambling for cover behind their cruisers. Sirens wailed anew, cutting through the sunny afternoon air with ear-splitting urgency.
Julian shielded Sophia’s body with his own, his heart slamming against his ribs as he scanned the rooftops lining the manicured suburban street.
“Dad, I’m scared!” Sophia sobbed softly into his shoulder, the restraint of her earlier courage finally giving way to genuine terror.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart. Look at me, keep your eyes on me,” Julian whispered frantically, his own hands shaking as he kept her head pressed firmly against the grass.
A second gunshot zipped overhead, pinging loudly off the metal frame of a nearby streetlamp. The sniper wasn’t aiming at the police; the shots were calculated, precision hits targeted specifically at Marcus Sterling and anyone engaging with him. Someone within Eleanor’s network—someone even more ruthless than her—wanted all loose ends permanently severed before they could cut a deal.
“Suspect down! Shooter on the roof of the two-story colonial on Elm Street!” an officer’s voice blared over a police radio nearby.
Heavy boots thudded against the pavement as a tactical response unit sprinted past Julian’s position, returning suppressive fire toward the distant rooftop.
Julian risked a quick glance upward. Marcus’s lifeless body lay sprawled half inside the black sedan, the burner phone clutched tightly in his dead hand, the screen still glowing with the decoy encryption code Julian had just entered.
If Marcus’s superiors checked that code and realized they had been handed a decoy, Julian and Sophia would become the sniper’s next targets.
“We have to move, Sophia. Right now,” Julian whispered urgently, pulling her to her feet while keeping low beneath the fence line.
“Where are we going, Dad? The police are right there!” Sophia cried, wiping a tear from her pale cheek.
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“Away from the street,” Julian said grimly, eyeing the open side gate of the suburban house where Eleanor had held them hostage just minutes before.
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