Chapter 4 - In the Dead of Night
Julian didn't hesitate. In the pitch blackness, he lunged forward, his forearm hooking around Lois’s waist and dragging her off the sofa and behind the solid oak desk against the far wall. The sound of shattered glass echoed down the corridor, followed by the muffled hiss of silenced gunshots.
""Stay down,"" Julian whispered directly into her ear, his breath hot against her cheek. ""Do not make a sound, no matter what happens.""
""Julian, they came for me,"" she gasped, her hands clutching at his dress shirt. ""They know I took the ledger!""
Julian froze, his senses sharpening. ""What ledger?""
""Before I fled the suite, I took the encrypted flash drive from Christian’s private terminal,"" she whispered frantically, reaching down into the waistband of her scrub trousers. She pressed a small, cold piece of steel into Julian's palm. ""Every donor name. Every offshore wire transfer. It’s all in here.""
The heavy mahogany suite doors groaned, then splintered inward. Two figures silhouetted against the dim emergency lights of the hallway entered, laser sights tracing crimson lines across the walls, cutting through the shadows toward the desk.
Julian retrieved a concealed firearm from a magnetic holster beneath the desk. With lethal precision, he stood and fired twice.
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The first intruder dropped instantly. The second fired wildly, wood chips exploding from the desk, before Julian lunged across the space, tackling the man into the glass coffee table. Glass erupted everywhere. With a sickening crack, Julian neutralized the assailant, his knee planted on the man’s throat.
Julian ripped off the intruder's ballistic mask. Underneath was a face Julian recognized all too well: Marcus Cole, the head of personal security for Julian’s own mother.
