Chapter 5 - Blood on the Marble
Though Daniel was in federal custody, the beast he created was far from dead.
Later that evening, Nora and Amelia sat inside the executive office on the top floor of the newly reclaimed hotel. The room was grand, decorated in dark mahogany, leather, and floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the glittering city skyline.
Marcus Cole was standing near the door, monitoring his encrypted radio network.
"Daniel’s bail hearing is set for tomorrow morning," Marcus warned, looking up from his tablet. "His defense attorneys are trying to argue that the video evidence was obtained illegally by hotel staff to dismiss the core charges."
"Nora is a registered employee who found dropped property in a public ballroom," Amelia noted firmly. "It’s completely admissible."
Suddenly, the lights in the executive office flickered and died, plunging the room into darkness.
The heavy electronic lock on the office door clicked open.
"Marcus!" Amelia called out.
Before Marcus could draw his weapon, the door burst inward. Three masked men dressed in black tactical gear stormed the room, armed with suppressed pistols.
"Where is the master drive?!" the lead mercenary barked, aiming his weapon directly at Amelia.
They weren't police. They were Daniel’s private shadow team—a contingency unit hired through his off-shore accounts, paid millions to execute one final order if Daniel ever fell: Eliminate the witnesses and retrieve the original hard drives.
Marcus dove across the room, firing two quick shots from his sidearm. One of the mercenaries went down, but the second struck Marcus with the butt of a rifle, sending him crashing into a glass coffee table.
Nora didn't hesitate. Months of working in the hotel had given her an instinctual knowledge of every corner of the room.
She grabbed a heavy brass statue from a side table and smashed it with all her strength against the knee of the lead mercenary.
The man roared in pain, dropping his weapon.
"Amelia, run!" Nora screamed, grabbing Amelia's arm and pulling her toward the private executive elevator concealed behind the bookshelf.
Nora slammed her thumb against the hidden biometric scanner—a scanner Amelia had reprogrammed with her own print just three hours earlier. The bookshelf slid open, revealing the small, stainless-steel elevator cab.
The remaining mercenary recovered his balance and fired three suppressed rounds toward them. The bullets shattered the glass wall behind them, showering the room in crystal shards.
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Nora pushed Amelia into the elevator first, then threw herself inside just as the mercenary lunged forward.
The heavy steel doors slammed shut, cutting off the mercenary's fingers as the elevator plummeted down toward the subterranean service tunnels.
