Chapter 7 - BETRAYAL IN THE MERCER EMPIRE
The backup generator kicked in with a low, mechanical growl, casting the grand foyer in eerie amber emergency lighting.
“Leo!” Rowena gasped, panicking as she lunged toward the sunroom.
“I’ve got him,” I said, sprinting down the hallway. I scooped Leo up into my arms just as the boy looked up from his coloring book, startled by the sirens. “Hold on to my neck, Leo. Tight.”
“Is it the bad men?” Leo whispered, his little arms locking around my throat with remarkable strength.
“Nobody’s hurting you,” I assured him, rushing back to the central corridor where Rowena was waiting. I led them toward the reinforced panic room built behind the wine cellar in the basement. I punched a six-digit code into the biometric keypad and swung the heavy steel-reinforced door open.
“Get inside,” I ordered Rowena. “There’s an encrypted landline, water, and emergency medical kits. Do not open this door for anyone unless you hear my voice giving the passkey.”
“Callahan, don't go out there!” Rowena pleaded, grabbing my wrist. “If it’s Arthur’s men—”
“Arthur’s men don't operate in broad daylight without a warrant unless they think they have complete impunity,” I replied, my voice chillingly calm. “I need to know who breached this perimeter.”
I closed the heavy vault door, waited for the magnetic locks to engage, and bounded up the basement stairs. From the gun safe in the study, I retrieved an unregistered tactical sidearm—a precaution I had maintained for years but had never intended to use.
I stepped out onto the wide front porch, keeping the weapon concealed behind my leg.
The two black SUVs had stopped at the edge of the circular driveway. The driver’s side door of the lead vehicle opened, and Garrison Pike stepped out onto the gravel. He wasn't wearing his usual corporate security suit; he wore tactical fatigues, flanked by four armed private contractors.
“You’re trespassing on private property, Garrison,” I called out, my voice ringing across the marshland. “Savannah county sheriffs are five minutes out.”
Garrison let out a dry, mocking laugh. “There are no sheriffs coming, Callahan. We placed a local signal jammer on the cellular tower two miles down the road. You’re completely off the grid.”
He walked toward the porch steps, stopping ten feet away, his hands resting casually on his tactical vest.
“Arthur wants the boy,” Garrison said plainly. “The board held an emergency session three hours ago. The merger with Vance Corporation is contingent upon you stepping down and transferring all Valkyrie battery patents to Mercer Holdings. Arthur has agreed to grant the woman a million-dollar trust fund on the condition that the child is remanded to Arthur’s legal guardianship in New York.”
“My father wants to raise my son as a corporate pawn?” I sneered. “Over my dead body.”
“That can be arranged if you resist,” Garrison replied coldly. “Arthur isn't running this play anymore, Callahan. Julianna’s father, Richard Vance, bought out forty percent of Arthur’s debt obligations this morning. Vance Security is running operations now. You’re out of moves.”
A sudden realization struck me like lightning. “Arthur didn't send you here to negotiate. Julianna and her father sent you to take Leo so they could blackmail both me and my father.”
Garrison’s silence was an admission of guilt.
“Julianna promised me a ten-million-dollar equity stake in Vance Logistics once the merger completes,” Garrison said, unholstering his weapon. “Step aside, Callahan. Hand over the keycard to the basement vault, and nobody has to get hurt.”
“You forgot one thing, Garrison,” I said, stepping forward onto the porch steps.
“What’s that?”
“You’re standing on my land.”
I reached into my pocket and pressed the remote detonation switch for the high-intensity perimeter strobe floodlights installed along the roofline. A blinding, ten-thousand-lumen flash exploded across the driveway, accompanied by an ear-splitting sonic deterrent siren designed for maritime defense.
May you like
The contractors stumbled backward, disoriented and blinded by the overwhelming light and sound.
Garrison cursed, raising his arm to shield his eyes. I moved with lethal precision, closing the distance in three strides, kicking the weapon from his hand, and driving my shoulder into his chest, slamming him down onto the gravel driveway.
