Chapter 44 - Bloodline on the ledger
The heavy vibration of footsteps rattled the iron grating overhead. Ethan placed his palm flat against the cold glass scanner right beside Lily’s. The amber monitor shifted instantly to brilliant emerald.
"Biometrics verified," the automated voice purred through the wall speaker. "Transmitting localized electromagnetic burst to external frequency nodes in three, two, one."
Through the concrete walls, three sharp, muffled pops echoed like distant firecrackers. The high-pitched whine that had been vibrating through the floorboards suddenly died into utter silence. The remote charges were dead, their digital receivers fried by the localized pulse Arthur Caldwell had hidden inside the foundation wiring decades before.
On the staircase above, the frantic sound of boots halted.
"The charges failed!" a mercenary’s voice barked through the stairwell vent. "Sir, the detonator screen just went black!"
"Break through that door!" Vance’s roar was stripped of all military composure now. The calm, untouchable architect of corporate extortion was disintegrating into a cornered predator. "Julian, get your pathetic self down here! You know the secondary override!"
Julian’s voice drifted down, weak and trembling with terror from somewhere high on the steps. "I don't have it, Marcus! Arthur never gave me the root codes! He knew... he always knew I was working with you!"
Grace exchanged a brief glance with Ethan. There was no fear left in her dark eyes, only the lethal focus of a veteran soldier executing a counter-offensive. She retrieved two flashbang canisters from her tactical vest.
"Stay behind the blast partition," Grace ordered quietly. "When I breach the stairs, secure the hard drives in the terminal. Vance didn't come here just to kill us. He brought the original transfer ledgers in that leather folder. Those documents tie him to every illegal takeover in this state for the last fifteen years."
Ethan nodded, slipping his arm around Lily once more. "Be careful, Grace."
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Grace allowed herself the faintest ghost of a smile, cold and sharp. "They brought an assault squad into my house. They should have checked my service record first."
She pulled the pins on both canisters simultaneously and rolled them up the metal riser of the stairs.
