Chapter 2 - The Ambush at Vance Manor
The sharp clatter of weapon bolts echoed through the bedchamber like dry thunder. Gabriel’s tactical instincts, honed through a decade of naval special warfare, ignited instantly. His eyes swept the perimeter: two shooters positioned behind the sheer curtains of the balcony, one more concealed in the shadow of the adjoining dressing room. Ricardo had not merely come to gloat; he had come to eliminate the ghost that dared to walk back into his stolen kingdom.
"Did you really believe I’d let you wander back from the dead without a reception?" Ricardo chuckled, taking a step backward into the hallway to place Victoria safely behind his frame. "The navy declared you MIA six months ago. An accidental suicide by a shell-shocked officer who couldn't accept his wife moved on... the press will eat it up."
Elena let out a stifled sob, shrinking against the headboard. "Gabriel, run..."
Gabriel didn't run. With blinding speed born of combat reflex, he seized the heavy mahogany nightstand beside the bed and hurled it toward the terrace doors. The solid wood shattered the glass in an explosive shower of crystal shards, instantly throwing the shooters off balance.
"Fire! Kill him!" Ricardo bellowed from the hall.
Muzzle flashes strobed through the room. Gabriel dove across the bed, using his own body as an impenetrable shield over Elena. High-caliber rounds chewed through the tufted headboard, feather stuffing bursting into the air like mock snow. Gabriel reached behind the waistband of his dark trousers, drawing the compact titanium blade he always carried concealed.
Rolling off the edge of the mattress, he swept the legs out from the mercenary bursting through the dressing room door. The man crashed heavily onto the parquet floor. Before the gunman could adjust his rifle, Gabriel’s knee drove into his sternum with sickening force, disarming him in a single fluid motion.
Gabriel rose, now holding a suppressed tactical submachine gun. He fired two controlled double-taps through the billowing curtains. Two thuds and groans signaled that the snipers on the terrace were neutralized.
He spun toward the main doorway, weapon raised, but Ricardo and Victoria were already retreating down the grand staircase, their frantic shouts echoing off the marble walls below. Alarm sirens began to wail throughout the mansion grounds, a deafening mechanical shriek that promised dozens of private security guards would converge on the wing within two minutes.
Gabriel knelt beside Elena, wrapping his ceremonial dress jacket around her bruised, trembling shoulders. "Can you walk?"
"I... I think so," she whispered, clinging to his sleeve with white knuckles.
May you like
He scooped her into his arms effortlessly, ignoring the stinging graze of a bullet against his left forearm. He carried her out through the shattered terrace doors into the pouring rain, leaping onto the stone balustrade and descending the garden trellis into the stormy night.
Behind them, the estate erupted in searchlights. But as Gabriel reached the perimeter tree line where he had hidden an unmarked vehicle, his phone vibrated against his ribs. A text flashed on the encrypted screen from an unknown number: The boy is not dead, Commander. Find him before Ricardo's hounds do.
