Chapter 14 - The Trap is Sprung
Three miles away, inside the armored medical van parked outside St. Jude’s Hospital, Julian’s phone erupted with an automated, high-pitched alarm that chilled him to the bone: CRITICAL ALERT - PENTHOUSE PERIMETER BREACH - BIOMETRIC OVERRIDE.
“David!” Julian roared, spinning around so fast he nearly knocked over Sarah’s IV stand. “My mother’s men are at the penthouse! They breached the elevators! They’re going after the girls!”
David Vance didn't waste a millisecond. He slammed the van door shut, shouted instructions to his driver, and vaulted into the driver’s seat of his black pursuit SUV parked at the curb. Julian was in the passenger seat before the engine even turned over, his face pale with a terrifying, primal fury that transcended anything he had felt in the boardroom.
“Hang on!” David shouted as he stomped the accelerator to the floorboards. The heavy armored SUV tires screeched against the asphalt, launching the vehicle into San Francisco traffic like a missile, its emergency sirens wailing as David ran three consecutive red lights on Van Ness Avenue.
Inside the penthouse, the situation had descended into brutal hand-to-hand combat. Marcus Vance had managed to disarm one mercenary and knock out another with the butt of his pistol, but the thick tactical smoke had blinded him just long enough for the third assailant to flank the dining room table.
The mercenary tore the velvet tablecloth away, revealing Aurora and Stella huddled together on the hardwood floor. Aurora screamed, kicking her tiny bare feet out as the man reached down with gloved hands, scooping both terrified toddlers up under his arms like bags of laundry.
“I’ve got the packages! Move to the roof helipad!” the mercenary shouted into his radio, turning to sprint toward the private staircase that led up to the building’s roof garden.
Marcus Vance tried to lunge after him, but the downed mercenary on the floor grabbed his ankle, tripping him heavily onto the shattered glass of the foyer.
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By the time Julian and David’s pursuit SUV skidded to a halt on the sidewalk outside the California Street tower, Julian didn't wait for the elevators. He knew his building’s architectural blueprint by heart. “They won't use the street exit—the police sirens are already approaching! They’re taking them to the roof helipad! My mother must have chartered a private extraction chopper!”
Julian sprinted toward the emergency stairwell, taking the concrete steps three at a time with superhuman speed, his heart thundering in his ears with only one thought: I will not lose them again.
