Chapter 3 - The Flight Through the Courtyard
Julian moved on instinct alone. Throwing his body across the gap, he tackled Marco just as the weapon discharged. The deafening crack of gunfire shattered the massive plate-glass door leading into the courtyard, sending hundreds of crystalline shards raining onto the manicured stone terrace.
Elena screamed, throwing herself off the sofa onto hands and knees, scrambling toward her daughter. ""Maya!""
Julian wrestled the barrel upward, pressing Marco’s wrist against the sharp edge of the doorframe until bone gave a sickening snap. Marco screamed in agony, the pistol finally clattering loose and skittering across the fractured glass into the rain outside.
""Get her out!"" Julian shouted, panting heavily as blood dripped from his broken nose onto his collar. ""Elena, take Maya and run to the service lane! The black sedan is idling behind the perimeter hedge!""
Elena scooped Maya into her arms, ignoring the searing pain radiating through her swollen abdomen and the lacerations biting into her bare feet from the broken glass. Maya buried her face in her mother's neck, sobbing uncontrollably. Elena didn't look back at the man she had called her husband for five years, nor did she look at Julian holding him down. She ran, propelled entirely by maternal adrenaline, bursting through the shattered doorway and out into the biting morning mist.
Behind her, the sounds of scuffling continued, followed by the heavy thud of someone being rendered unconscious. Elena didn't stop. She navigated the cobblestone pathway of the private estate, her white dressing gown snagging on rosebushes and soaking up muddy rainwater. Her breath tore from her lungs in ragged gasps. Every step sent a sharp contraction rippling across her uterus.
""Not now,"" she prayed aloud, squeezing Maya tighter against her chest. ""Please, not now.""
Reaching the ornate wrought-iron service gate at the rear of the property, she found it slightly ajar just as Julian had promised. Beyond it lay a narrow gravel alleyway flanked by overgrown pine trees. Parked beneath the dripping boughs was an unmarked black sedan, its engine humming quietly, exhaust vapor swirling in the cold air.
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Elena wrenched open the back door, practically throwing Maya onto the plush rear seat before tumbling in after her. She reached forward to lock the doors, but as she slammed the door shut, she noticed something chilling through the rain-streaked rear window.
Two heavy black SUVs had silently pulled into the opposite end of the lane, blocking the exit, their headlights cutting through the gray fog like predatory eyes.
