Chapter 12 - Broken Perimeters
Julian reacted before the light even completed its first rotation. He caught Elena by the waist, dragging her down behind the heavy mahogany executive desk as the massive glass wall behind them exploded inward in a shower of crystallized safety glass.
A high-caliber sniper round had punched through the reinforced panel, shattering the outer layer and creating a spiderweb of fracture lines across the pane.
""They bypassed the road,"" Julian grunted, drawing his sidearm from his shoulder holster. ""They came up the river cliff.""
""Lily!"" Elena screamed, trying to scramble across the hardwood floor toward the living room.
Julian grabbed her collar, pinning her behind the desk. ""Stay down! Martha has her! Martha has the panic room protocol!""
Through the fractured glass, two grappling hooks caught the edge of the terrace railing. Men in tactical dark gear, carrying suppressed submachine guns, vaulted over the balustrade onto the terrace. Salvatore hadn't waited for the sunrise parley; he had used the phone call as a diversion while his strike team scaled the Palisades cliffs.
Julian peeked around the mahogany edge, firing three rapid shots. The lead intruder dropped instantly, tumbling over the shattered terrace railing into the darkness below. The second man sprayed the room with automatic fire, chewing the cedar ceiling to splinters and destroying the framed art on the walls.
""Elena, listen to me,"" Julian shouted over the deafening echoes of gunfire. ""Beneath this desk is a steel floor trap. It leads to the ventilation trench that feeds into the panic room where Martha took Lily. I need you to pull that brass lever.""
""What about you?"" she cried, clutching his forearm.
Julian looked at her, his dark eyes ablaze with cold fury, but underneath it lay a quiet, absolute resolve. ""I'm going to make sure they never look for her again.""
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He didn't wait for her permission. Julian lunged out from behind the desk, firing with lethal, terrifying precision, driving the second attacker back onto the freezing terrace. Elena grabbed the brass lever beneath the desk, hauling it back with all her strength as the floor dropped open into a dimly lit steel chute.
She looked up one last time through the debris, seeing Julian Vance standing against the howling river wind, his silhouette framed against the freezing night, emptying his magazine into the dark.
