Chapter 10 - The Fall of the Falcon
Alec dropped to the wet concrete the exact millisecond Clara shifted her weight. Her bullet grazed the side of his tactical vest, tearing the nylon seam.
Before she could adjust her aim, Marcus tilted the Eurocopter’s cyclic stick, blasting Clara with the full force of the tail rotor wash. The hurricane of pressurized air threw her off balance, sending her sliding across the slick tarmac.
Alec surged up from the ground like a sprung trap. He closed the distance before she could recover, his boot kicking the pistol out of her grip. It skidded across the roof, spinning over the ledge and vanishing into the three-hundred-foot drop below.
Clara rolled instantly, unsheathing a ceramic combat blade from her boot. She lunged with terrifying speed, aiming for Alec’s carotid artery.
Alec parried with his forearm, the ceramic edge slicing clean through his sleeve and nicking his skin. He didn't flinch. Pivoting his hips, he drove an open palm into her sternum, right where Dr. Evans had stitched her deep laceration.
A strangled shriek tore from Clara's throat as the fresh sutures tore apart beneath her skin. She stumbled backward, gasping for air, clutching her bleeding ribs as she fell against the safety netting at the roof's edge.
The rain beat down upon them, washing crimson streaks down her black vest, pooling on the concrete between them.
Alec stood over her, his rifle barrel resting precisely against the center of her forehead.
""Do it,"" she hissed through gritted teeth, her lips drawn back in a defiant snarl. ""Kill me. Donald has the offshore keys anyway. You'll spend the rest of your life fighting for pennies in the gutter.""
""Donald doesn't have the keys,"" Alec said coldly. ""The thumb drive you took was an encrypted loop. The moment you plugged it into the system downstairs, it wiped your family’s offshore accounts and funneled every cent into Julian's blind trust.""
Clara’s eyes widened with pure, unadulterated disbelief. ""You... you knew?""
""I knew Victor Vance had an assassin living in his shadow,"" Alec murmured, rain dripping from his jaw. ""I just didn't know how far you were willing to let him butcher you to play the victim. You gave yourself those scars, Clara. And for what? For a man who locked himself in a vault and left you on a roof?""
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Down in the courtyard below, a series of muffled explosions rocked the foundations of the mansion. Black smoke began to billow from the lower ventilation grates.
""That's Donald's charges,"" Clara whispered, a manic gleam returning to her eyes. ""He didn't run to hide, Alec. He went to the basement to trigger the structural collapses. We have ninety seconds before this entire tower collapses into the bay.""
