Chapter 7 - The Ultimatum
The synthetic voice hung heavily in the air above the stone fountain, its electronic distortion echoing off the brick facade of the grand estate before fading away into the rustling leaves of the sycamore trees. Leo stood frozen for a fraction of a second, his chest heaving as he stared up at the shattered second-story window where Sarah and Toby remained trapped inside the gas-filled study.
"Daddy, who was that? Why are they talking to us like that?" Lily asked, her small voice trembling as she clutched the fabric of Leo's torn shirt, burying her face against his side.
"Everything is going to be okay, Lily. I need you to listen to me very carefully," Leo said, kneeling down so he was eye-level with his daughter. He forced a calm, reassuring smile onto his face, though his dark eyes burned with a fierce, dangerous intensity. "I need you to run as fast as you can down the path toward the gardener's cottage. Mrs. Higgins is inside. Tell her to call the emergency services from her landline—remember, cell phones won't work out here. Can you do that for me?"
Lily shook her head frantically, tears spilling over her lower lashes. "I don't want to leave you, Daddy! What if they take you too?"
"They won't take me. I'm right behind you," Leo lied smoothly, giving her a gentle nudge toward the tree-lined path that led away from the main house. "Go now, Lily. Run!"
As the little girl broke into a desperate sprint down the gravel path, clutching her toy stethoscope to her chest like a talisman, Leo turned back toward the shattered window. The halothane gas had begun to dissipate through the broken glass, but the smart-locks on the study door would remain engaged until an administrator override was executed—or until the local power grid was completely severed at the main transformer box.
Leo sprinted around the corner of the brick manor toward the utility alcove, his boots pounding against the stone patio. He didn't bother trying to pick the padlock on the metal breaker panel; instead, he grabbed a heavy iron garden statue of a crouching hound and slammed it repeatedly against the housing until the hinges sheared off, exposing the master electrical switches.
With a violent wrench, he threw the primary industrial breaker handle down. The deep, low hum of the estate's electrical grid died instantly across the entire property. The security cameras mounted on the eaves powered down, the automated gates clicked open as their magnetic locks failed, and a faint, pneumatic clack echoed from the second-story study as the titanium deadbolt finally retracted into the doorframe.
Leo didn't waste a second. He vaulted back through the ground-floor French doors, tore up the grand staircase two steps at a time, and burst into the study. The air was still thick and hazy, but Sarah was already stirring, coughing weakly as she propped herself up against the mahogany desk, shielding a groggy, whimpering Toby in her arms.
"Leo..." Sarah rasped, her eyes heavy and bloodshot as she looked up at him. "The drive... they wanted the drive..."
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"I know," Leo said grimly, scooping both of them up into his arms and carrying them out into the fresh air of the hallway. "And I know where I have to take it."
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