Chapter 16 - The Call to Arms
|
I stood over the black chess piece for a long time, my mind racing through defensive strategies that suddenly felt entirely inadequate. Victor had eyes inside my house. That meant I couldn't trust my own security team. Anyone could have been bought. Anyone could be the mole.
I picked up the black King, feeling the heavy, cold marble in my palm. I walked down to the basement level, placing my palm on the biometric scanner that guarded the panic room. The thick steel door hissed open.
Mara was sitting on the reinforced sofa, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while the four boys slept peacefully on the cots against the wall. She looked up at me, her eyes exhausted but sharp.
"What happened?" she asked quietly, not wanting to wake the kids.
I held up the black chess piece. "He was here. Sometime in the last twelve hours. He breached the house without tripping a single alarm."
Mara stared at the piece, a shiver running down her spine. "So we aren't safe here either."
"No. We aren't." I sat down beside her, burying my face in my hands. "Mara, I have to go on the offensive. If I wait for him to strike, he’s going to dictate the terms. I have to find him before he makes his next move."
"And leave us here?" she asked, her voice rising slightly before she caught herself. "With guards who might be working for him?"
"I don't have a choice—"
"Yes, you do," Mara interrupted, her tone commanding. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "You think you're the only one with connections, Julian? My father built a corporate empire from nothing. He dealt with cutthroats, cartels, and mercenaries long before you ever worked for him. If your syndicate ghost is hunting us, we need people outside of your circle."
Before I could stop her, she dialed a number and put it on speaker.
A deep, gravelly voice answered on the second ring. "Mara. It’s been a long time."
"Hello, Uncle Silas," Mara said, using the affectionate title for her father's oldest, most lethal fixer. A man I had only heard rumors about. "I need an extraction. My family is being hunted."
May you like
"Give me thirty minutes," Silas replied smoothly. "Have your husband disarm the southern gate. I'll bring the ghost squad."
She hung up the phone and looked at me, a fierce determination setting in her jaw. "You aren't fighting this war alone, Julian. Not anymore."
