Chapter 2 - The Ghost of Sector Four
I wasn’t about to let a stranger fight my battles, no matter how efficiently she threw a knife. I scooped Emma into my left arm, keeping my weapon steady in my right, and motioned for Harper to support Ava.
“You’re coming with us,” I ordered Claire, my voice leaving no room for negotiation. “The panic room holds five. Move.”
We rushed down the private corridor of the east wing. The mansion was eerily silent, the kind of silence that precedes a tactical breach. As we reached the concealed steel door behind the library bookshelves, the distinct sound of shattered glass echoed from the front foyer. They were inside.
I engaged the biometric lock, shoving the heavy steel door open. Ava limped inside, leaning heavily on Harper. I set Emma down gently, turning back to cover the hallway. Claire slid in right behind me, her weapon raised in perfect synchronization with mine, covering my blind spot.
The steel door hissed shut, locking us in an impenetrable twelve-by-twelve concrete bunker equipped with independent ventilation, medical supplies, and a wall of surveillance monitors.
Ava collapsed onto the leather cot, biting her lip to stifle a cry of pain. Claire was immediately at her side, opening the bunker’s medical kit, administering a dose of broad-spectrum antibiotics and a painkiller.
I turned to the monitors. Six men in tactical gear were sweeping my living room. They moved with military precision. This wasn't a rival Chicago gang. This was a professional hit squad.
I turned slowly, locking my gaze onto the maid.
“Start talking,” I growled, my voice laced with a lethal edge. “You handled that wound like a combat medic. You threw a blade with Special Forces accuracy. And my daughter just told me you neutralized an armed breach team in the garden. Who sent you?”
Claire finished wrapping Ava’s leg. She stood up, meeting my eyes with a stare so icy it could have frozen Lake Michigan.
“Nobody sent me, Elias,” she said, using my first name for the first time. “Three years ago, I was a Tier One combat medic operating in Sector Four in Syria. My unit was ambushed. I was the only survivor. When I came back, I wanted to disappear. I wanted a quiet life where the loudest sound was a vacuum cleaner. I forged a background check and took a job cleaning houses.”
She looked down at Emma, her eyes softening into something fiercely protective.
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“I didn't plan on loving your daughters,” Claire whispered. “But when the glass broke tonight, I wasn't going to let another family die on my watch.”
I looked at the scars on her arms, the steady grip she had on her weapon, and the way Emma clung to her apron. My world was burning down around me, but in the center of the ashes stood a woman who had just saved my entire universe.
