Chapter 9 - The Breach
The tablet hissed, white smoke billowing from the cracked casing as Arthur let out a choked shriek of fury. ""You fool! You just signed all of our death warrants!""
""We make our own choices,"" Leo snapped. He grabbed Arthur's wheelchair handles, swinging the dying man around. ""Where is the emergency exit? The workers' tunnel out to the spillway—where is it?""
Arthur slumped against his blankets, breathing heavily through his oxygen mask, his face twisted in despair. ""Under the south hopper. But it's dead-bolted from the other side. There’s no way out, Santos.""
""We'll see about that,"" Leo said.
Before he could take another step, the corrugated metal skylights above shattered in a deafening rain of tempered glass. Thick black ropes dropped through the opening, slapping against the timber floorboards. Four men in full black tactical gear slid down the lines, hitting the decking in combat stances, weapons raised.
""Down!"" Leo roared, tackling Elena and Mateo behind a massive cast-iron planer machine just as automatic gunfire shredded the wooden floorboards where they had stood seconds before.
Splinters exploded through the air like shrapnel. Arthur was left sitting in the open, his hands raised, coughing uncontrollably in the swirling dust and smoke.
""Hold fire!"" a sharp, refined voice called out from the darkness near the main entryway.
Julian stepped through the ruined loading doors, flanked by three more armed operators. He held an umbrella against the light drizzle that blew through the entrance, his immaculate charcoal coat untouched by dirt or debris.
""Arthur,"" Julian said smoothly, stepping over the shattered glass. ""You always were theatrical. Faking your demise at the clinic, fleeing across the Atlantic... only to die in a decaying saw mill. How terribly uninspired.""
""Julian..."" Arthur wheezed, his chest rattling. ""The trust... the boy destroyed the terminal. There is nothing left to transfer.""
Julian chuckled softly, stopping five feet from the wheelchair. ""Do you truly believe I relied on that antiquated terminal? The Boston probate judge signed off on the power of attorney forty minutes ago. The court accepted the emergency petition because your daughter failed to appear to contest it.""
Behind the cast-iron planer, Leo tightened his grip on Elena’s hand. He could hear her rapid, panicked breathing.
Julian turned his gaze toward the shadows where Leo, Elena, and Mateo were concealed. ""Elena. Step out with the child. If you hand Mateo over peacefully, I will permit you and your dockworker husband to board a freighter to South America. You can live out your days in obscurity.""
""You're lying!"" Elena shouted from behind the machinery. ""You never leave loose ends, Julian!""
""A fair assessment,"" Julian replied, nodding slightly to the armed men flanking him. ""Flank them. Leave the child unharmed. Eliminate the parents.""
May you like
The guards raised their weapons and began advancing across the sawdust-strewn floor. But Mateo suddenly wriggled out of Elena's grasp. Before Leo could grab him, the eighteen-month-old toddler scrambled toward the edge of the machinery, his tiny voice cutting clear across the echoing mill.
""Papa, doggie!"" Mateo yelled, pointing toward the dark rafters above Julian's head.
