CHAPTER 7 — The Night They Came
CHAPTER 7 — The Night They Came
The mansion plunged into chaos.
Emergency lights flickered on, casting the marble hallways in a dim red glow.
The shrill alarm echoed through every room.
Outside, tires screeched.
Then came another gunshot.
"Protect the child!" Agent Brooks shouted.
Without hesitation, Clara scooped Leo into her arms.
"It's okay, sweetheart," she whispered, though her own hands trembled. "Don't let go of me."
Federal agents rushed toward the front entrance while detectives ushered the rest of us into the reinforced panic room hidden beneath the library.
I refused.
"My son isn't hiding while those people are still in my house."
Brooks grabbed my arm.
"You have exactly thirty seconds to choose between being a father and being a hero."
His words hit me like a slap.
I looked at Leo.
His frightened little eyes searched mine.
I nodded.
"The panic room."
As the steel door sealed behind us, security monitors came alive.
Masked figures dressed in black tactical gear moved through the mansion with terrifying precision.
They weren't thieves.
They knew exactly where they were going.
One headed straight for the library.
Another toward Leo's bedroom.
A third toward the hidden safe.
"They're after the evidence," Brooks said grimly.
On another screen, one of the intruders ripped paintings from the walls, searching for hidden compartments.
But they were too late.
The safe was empty.
Every document had already been taken into federal custody.
The intruders grew frantic.
One of them spoke into a radio.
"It's gone."
Seconds later, a deep voice crackled through the speaker.
"Then eliminate all witnesses."
My blood turned cold.
"They came to kill us."
Brooks nodded.
"I'm afraid they did."
The attackers planted explosive charges throughout the west wing.
The monitors flashed white.
A deafening blast shook the entire mansion.
Glass shattered.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
Leo buried his face against Clara.
"I'm scared."
I knelt beside him.
"So am I."
He looked at me in surprise.
"You are?"
I smiled sadly.
"Being brave doesn't mean you're never scared."
"It means you protect the people you love anyway."
Leo wrapped his small arms around my neck.
"I love you, Daddy."
My eyes filled with tears.
"I love you too."
Minutes later, heavily armed federal response teams stormed the property.
The firefight lasted less than ten minutes.
When the smoke cleared, three attackers had been arrested.
Two had escaped.
One lay wounded beside the front gate.
As paramedics treated him, Agent Brooks searched the man's equipment.
Inside his jacket was a photograph.
Not of me.
Not of Victoria.
Of Leo.
Across the top, someone had written:
FINAL SUBJECT
May you like
Brooks quietly folded the photograph before Leo could see it.
"This ends tonight," he said.
