Chapter 12 - The Mole in the System
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Using the smoke cover, I moved down the upper catwalk, clearing two hostiles with precise single shots before reuniting with Vance at the top of the grand stairs.
"They're falling back!" Vance reported, peering over the balcony railing. "They know we have the drive!"
Down in the main foyer, the mercenary commander stood near the heavy front doors, holding a radio to his ear.
"Fall back to the extraction team!" he shouted into his headset. "Evelyn just confirmed the buyer is waiting at the airfield!"
I froze. Evelyn?
My mother wasn't just hiding behind high-priced lawyers. She was actively directing the tactical squad inside her own house.
"Vance, secure the rear exit!" I commanded as I leaped over the balcony railing, dropping ten feet down onto the leather sofa below and rolling smoothly onto my feet.
The mercenary commander turned in shock, raising his pistol, but I closed the distance instantly, striking his wrist and disarming him with a sharp martial arts block.
I pinned him against the marble pillar, driving my forearm into his neck.
"Who unlocked the front security gates for you?!" I demanded, my eyes burning. "This house had a ten-digit federal lock code!"
The man spat blood onto the floor, sneering through his mask. "You really think your federal task force is clean, Commander? Who do you think paid your mother's bail an hour ago?"
My blood ran cold.
The only people who had access to the master lock codes and the emergency bail records were inside the high-level task force command center.
There was a high-ranking mole inside the Department of Justice.
Before I could force the man to give me a name, a high-caliber sniper round shattered the glass dome skylight fifty feet above us.
The round struck the mercenary commander directly through the chest, killing him instantly to keep him from talking.
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"Sniper on the roof!" Vance yelled from the doorway. "Commander, move!"
I grabbed the silver drive, dove through the broken glass patio doors, and sprinted with Vance into the dark cover of the wet pine forest.
