Chapter 6 - NIGHT AT THE ESTATE
The storm outside raged with renewed fury. Thunder shook the heavy glass windows of the estate, masking the sounds of the night.
Julian gathered Marcus and his core security team in the main hall.
“Richard Sterling or one of his hired men is inside the house,” Julian said, his voice steady and cold. “They used Carter’s stolen keycard to cut the main power, knowing the security cameras would lag during the generator reset. They are heading for the hidden shaft behind the nursery wall.”
“We should evacuate you and the babies immediately, Julian,” Marcus warned.
“No,” Julian replied fiercely. “My children were tortured in their own home tonight. I am not running away. We end this tonight.”
Julian devised a trap. He instructed Claire and the caregivers to remain in the secure west wing with a armed security detail guarding the babies. Meanwhile, Julian and Marcus quietly slipped into the shadowy corridors of the north wing.
The north wing was completely dark, illuminated only by occasional flashes of lightning through the high windows.
When they reached the nursery, the hole in the wall remained open, the cut insulation hanging loose. But Julian noticed something new: a fresh trail of mud on the polished hardwood floor, leading from the nursery closet toward the back wall.
Inside the closet, behind a rack of baby clothes, a hidden service panel had been forced open. Beyond it lay a narrow, concrete maintenance ladder descending deep into the dark sub-structure of the house.
“He went down,” Marcus whispered, raising his suppressed sidearm.
“I’m coming with you,” Julian insisted.
They stepped through the narrow opening and began descending the rusty iron ladder into the pitch-black abyss below. The air grew cold, damp, and heavy with the smell of old stone and wet earth.
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As they reached the bottom of the ladder thirty feet below ground, a faint light flickered at the end of a long brick corridor.
Julian heard the metallic clatter of heavy tools striking concrete, followed by a low, frustrated curse echoing through the underground tunnel. Someone was trying to break through the reinforced vault door.
