Chapter 15 - The Siege of Bedford
The storm surrounding the Bedford estate had escalated into a full-scale nor'easter, burying the property beneath a foot of swirling, blinding snow.
Julian’s armored SUV pulled up to the service entrance of the mansion, its headlights extinguished as it glided silently over the fresh powder.
He stepped out of the vehicle into the freezing wind, his long black overcoat billowing behind him like the wings of an avenging angel.
Marcus Bell and twenty elite tactical operators materialized from the shadows of the woods, their night-vision goggles glowing faintly in the dark.
“What is the status inside, Marcus?” Julian asked, his eyes scanning the dark, shuttered windows of his sprawling thirty-room fortress.
“The auxiliary power is completely dead, boss,” Marcus reported, holding a thermal mapping tablet that displayed the interior heat signatures.
“We have Damian and Rosalind trapped in the second-floor gallery corridor; they spent the last hour trying to shoot open the reinforced shutter locks.”
Julian looked at the thermal display, seeing the two bright red silhouettes pacing frantically back and forth inside the sealed residential wing.
They were exhausted, terrified, and completely cut off from the outside world, like two rats caught inside a sealed steel trap.
“Deploy four shooters to the roof terrace to prevent any desperate attempt to scale the masonry,” Julian ordered with surgical precision.
“I am going inside alone through the silver closet access; maintain perimeter security and shoot anyone who attempts to exit the building alive.”
Marcus looked at his boss with a fleeting expression of concern, knowing the extreme personal risk of entering a dark structure against desperate targets.
“Let me take the lead, Julian,” Marcus offered quietly. “Damian is a cornered animal; he will shoot at anything that moves in the dark.”
“He is my second, Marcus, and she is my wife,” Julian replied coldly, checking the chamber of his suppressed Sig Sauer one final time.
“This is not a syndicate operation anymore; this is a cleansing of my own bloodline, and I will handle the blade myself.”
He turned away from his men, walking alone across the snow-covered stone patio toward the hidden utility door Maria had shown him hours ago.
He entered the seven-digit override code into the external keypad, the heavy reinforced steel door clicking open with a soft, hydraulic hiss.
He stepped into the dark, freezing service corridor, the scent of lavender wax and old wood instantly rushing back into his nostrils.
It was the exact same hallway where Maria had tackled him into the shadows only ten hours ago to save his life from an ambush.
He pulled the door shut behind him, sealing himself inside the pitch-black mansion with the two people who had plotted his murder.
May you like
He raised his weapon, his silent, rubber-soled boots making no sound against the floor runners as he began his ascent toward the second floor.
The hunt had officially begun inside the halls of the castle.
