Chapter 6 - The Laser In The Dark
Julian reacted on pure instinct. He lunged forward, grabbing Victoria by the arm and dragging her hard behind the heavy steel frame of his parked sedan just as a deafening crack shattered the silence. A high-powered rifle bullet slammed into the concrete pillar where Victoria had been standing a split second earlier, sending a shower of white sparks and jagged stone shrapnel flying across the garage floor.
"Get down!" Julian hissed, pulling her flat against the cold floor beneath the chassis of the car.
Victoria didn't scream or panic. Her breathing remained remarkably steady, though her fingers dug into Julian’s sleeve with bruising force. "Suppressor," she whispered in his ear. "Subsonic rounds. Professional hit squad. They aren't here to negotiate, Julian. They're here to clean house."
"How did they get past the perimeter alarms?" Julian demanded, his mind racing as he calculated the layout of the property. The Vance estate was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress.
"Because the security system was compromised from the inside months ago," Victoria whispered back, her face inches from his in the dark. "Every camera feed, every motion sensor, every biometric lock—it's all routed through a secondary server. And that server belongs to your most trusted partner, Marcus."
Julian’s breath hitched. Marcus. The man who had stood by his side for over a decade, who had handled his dirtiest corporate maneuvers, who was currently downstairs ostensibly clearing the guests out of the house. The betrayal hit him harder than the sniper's bullet.
A heavy pair of combat boots crunched against the concrete near the elevator entrance. Flashlight beams cut through the gloom, sweeping methodically across the floor, drawing closer and closer to their hiding spot.
Julian’s hand slid across the floor, searching blindly for the heavy iron tire iron he had dropped when he tackled Victoria. His fingers brushed against cold metal. He curled his hand around the handle, his muscles tensing as the heavy footsteps paused just a few feet away from the rear tires of the sedan.
"We flush them or we die here," Victoria whispered, her hand sliding into the pocket of her leather jacket, where a muffled metallic click indicated she was racking the slide of a concealed firearm.
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Before Julian could stop her, Victoria rolled out from beneath the opposite side of the car, fired two rapid shots toward the shadow near the elevator, and shouted, "Run, Julian!"
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