Chapter 14 - dark shadows
"Stay down," I whispered to Nora, reaching into the bottom drawer of the mahogany desk to pull out my father's old iron revolver.
I crept to the bay window, pulling the heavy velvet curtain back an inch to peer out into the rainy courtyard. A sleek black SUV sat idling near the stone steps, its headlights turned off. Three men dressed in dark raincoats stepped out, their faces hidden beneath low caps.
"They tracked the signal when I unlocked the drive," I realized with a sudden jolt of terror. The file had an auto-ping protocol designed to alert Richard's server the moment it was decrypted.
"Nora, take Lily through the kitchen pantry," I ordered, turning back toward her in the dark room. "There's a root cellar hatch behind the wine racks that leads out to the garden shed."
"I'm not leaving you, Julian," Nora rasped, her eyes wide with fear in the laptop's pale light.
"You have to protect Ethan's daughter," I said firmly, pressing the small micro-drive into her palm. "If they get this drive, Ethan died for nothing. Go now!"
Nora bit her lip, nodded once, and ran silently out of the library toward the staircase.
May you like
I closed the laptop, slipped the revolver into my coat pocket, and walked toward the grand foyer. The heavy oak front door groaned as a lock-picking tool clicked against the brass mechanism inside.
I stood in the shadow of the marble staircase, cocking the hammer of the gun back with a sharp, metallic clack.
