Chapter 4 - The Blood of a Cole
Ten minutes felt like an eternity inside the silent, locked office. Outside the heavy oak doors, the sounds of banging had ceased, replaced by the ominous muffled echo of footsteps moving stealthily down the corridor.
Suddenly, a series of dull thuds echoed through the walls, followed by the hiss of smoke grenades and the sharp, muted pops of suppressed gunfire coming from the elevator bank.
Damen stood in front of Maya, shielding her body with his own as his desk console flashed red.
A moment later, the biometric lock on his private service door clicked open. Frank Mercer stepped into the room, dressed in dark tactical gear, holding a suppressed carbine low against his chest. Behind him stood three heavily armed operators.
"Floor is clear," Mercer said, pulling down his face mask. "Sterling’s security team had six men stationed outside your door. My boys took them down before they could set breach charges."
"Where is Sophia?" Damen demanded immediately.
Mercer’s face darkened. He gestured toward his second-in-command, who pulled up a live thermal tracker on a handheld tablet.
"We checked the security feeds on the lower levels," Mercer explained. "Sterling’s chief enforcer, a mercenary named Vance, dragged a woman out through the loading dock three minutes ago into an unmarked black van. They’re heading south toward the industrial shipping district near the river."
Maya began to cry quietly, clutching Damen’s pant leg. "Mommy... I want Mommy..."
Damen reached down and scooped Maya up into his arm. He looked at Mercer with eyes that burned with absolute, cold fury.
"Get my armored SUV to the basement," Damen ordered. "Mercer, you and your team are coming with me."
"Damen, you need to stay in a safe house," Mercer urged. "Sterling knows the secret is out. He’s desperate now. He’ll turn that industrial sector into a war zone."
"That little girl spent four years hiding in the shadows because my family’s enemy hunted her," Damen said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "I am not leaving her mother in their hands for another minute. Get the car."
Mercer looked at the determination in Damen’s eyes and gave a single, firm nod. "Yes, sir."
Five minutes later, Damen was sitting in the back of a bulletproof SUV tearing through the rain-slicked streets of the city at ninety miles an hour. Maya sat beside him, safely strapped into a seat, holding a juice box Mercer’s team had provided.
Damen looked out the tinted window at the glowing city skyline. For thirty-eight years, he had believed his purpose was to build towers, acquire assets, and dominate balance sheets. But as he looked back at the small girl sleeping peacefully in the back seat, he realized he had finally found the one thing worth fighting for.
He pulled his phone out and dialed Marcus Sterling’s private number.
The line rang twice before a smooth, arrogant voice answered. "Damen? I heard there was some commotion on the 84th floor tonight. Are you alright?"
"I have Ethan's drive, Sterling," Damen said, his tone icy enough to freeze blood. "And I have my niece."
There was a long, suffocating pause on the other end of the phone. The polite, corporate mask Sterling had worn for twenty years slipped away, replaced by a cold, raspy hiss.
"You should have stayed in your office, Damen," Sterling threatened softly. "Your brother didn't know when to leave things alone, and look where it got him."
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"If so much as a single hair on Sophia’s head is harmed when I reach the river," Damen growled, "I won't just put you in prison, Marcus. I will dismantle everything you have ever touched, brick by brick, until there is nothing left of you but a memory."
"Come and try, CEO," Sterling sneered, and clicked the line dead.
