Chapter 16 - THE MIDNIGHT ASSAULT
The office descended into absolute chaos. Thick, acrid tear gas filled the room, making it impossible to breathe or see.
"Sophia! Mia! Behind the desk!" Marcus screamed, firing three rapid shots through the smoke toward the door.
The tactical mercenaries returned fire, bullets ripping through the leather chairs, wood panels, and glass frames on the walls. The thunderous noise echoed violently through the empty building.
"Move! To the back emergency staircase!" Marcus commanded, grabbing Mia by the arm while Sophia followed closely behind, clutching a heavy metal desk lamp as a weapon.
They scrambled through the rear door into the concrete stairwell, slamming the heavy fire door shut behind them just as a hail of bullets impacted against the steel frame.
"They're not LAPD!" Sophia coughed violently, wiping tears from her stinging eyes. "Those are military mercenaries!"
"Vanderbilt’s private security firm," Marcus growled, reloading his pistol with his last spare magazine. "They don't want to talk—they want to eliminate us and take the journal keys before we reach San Francisco."
They sprinted down the eight flights of concrete stairs, their footsteps echoing loudly. Below them, heavy boots could be heard climbing up from the basement level—they were surrounded from both above and below!
"Up or down?" Mia gasped, panic taking over.
"Neither!" Marcus said, kicking open the door to the fourth-floor maintenance floor.
The fourth floor was currently under renovation, filled with exposed drywall, wooden scaffolding, and plastic sheeting.
"In here! Hide behind the plaster walls!" Marcus ordered.
Seconds later, three armed mercenaries burst onto the fourth floor, their weapon-mounted flashlights cutting through the dark construction dust.
"Sweep the floor," a cold, foreign voice commanded through a tactical radio. "Lord Vanderbilt wants the girls alive for interrogation, but kill the old man."
Mia huddled behind a stack of heavy drywall sheets, holding her breath, her hand covering her mouth to prevent herself from coughing. Just inches away, the bright beam of a mercenary's flashlight passed over her hiding spot.
Sophia, hiding on the opposite side of the room, saw a heavy wooden scaffolding pole resting against a cement pillar right above the lead mercenary.
Sophia caught Marcus’s eye through the darkness and gave a quick nod.
Sophia lunged forward, throwing her entire body weight against the wooden scaffolding. The heavy wooden planks collapsed down with a thunderous crash, dropping hundreds of pounds of debris directly onto two of the mercenaries, trapping them beneath the weight.
"Now, Marcus!" Sophia screamed.
Marcus stepped out from cover, firing two precise shots that neutralized the remaining mercenary.
"Out the window!" Marcus shouted, pointing to a exterior window that led to a steel fire escape ladder facing the alleyway.
Mia and Sophia didn't hesitate. They scrambled out the window, sliding down the cold steel ladder into the dark alley below, where Marcus’s cab was hidden behind a row of dumpsters.
They dove into the vehicle as Marcus fired up the engine, speeding out of the alley into the rainy night just as heavy black SUVs pulled up to block the front of the building.
"Are you two hurt?" Marcus asked, checking the rearview mirror frantically as he drove toward the highway entrance.
"We're fine," Mia breathed, her face covered in gray drywall dust and soot. "Where are we going?"
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"San Francisco," Marcus said, his eyes set with absolute, unyielding determination. "We get Arthur's journal tonight. Because tomorrow, Lord Vanderbilt is going to find out what happens when you mess with the Vance family."
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