Chapter 5 - ALLIES IN HIGH PLACES
The bullet didn't hit Grant.
It hit the overhead sprinkler sensor directly above his head.
A torrent of cold, high-pressure water burst from the ceiling, instantly drenching Grant and quenching the Zippo lighter before the flame could hit the gasoline fumes.
Grant gasped as gallons of freezing water poured over him. He dropped the lighter, slipping on the wet floor, and fell hard onto his back.
I moved like lightning. I stepped forward, kicked the gasoline canister away, and planted my combat boot firmly on Grant’s chest, pinning him to the slick concrete.
I reached down, grabbed his pinky finger, and stripped my mother’s ring from his hand.
"Get off me! Evelyn, please!" Grant sobbed, all his brave, arrogant posture evaporating instantly. "I was forced into this! It was Vanessa! Her father threatened me! They made me do it!"
"Save it for the judge," I cold-said, pulling a set of heavy zipties from my belt and binding his hands behind his back tightly enough to make him wince.
I carried Lily back up the basement stairs.
As we reached the main level, heavy black SUVs tore onto the driveway outside, tires screeching against the gravel. Red and blue lights flashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room.
Vanessa was still cuffed to the radiator, screaming for help.
The front doors were kicked off their hinges, and a tactical squad swept into the house, led by a tall man in a dark trench coat with graying hair at his temples.
Commander Vance.
"Evelyn!" Vance called out, lowering his sidearm as he saw me holding Lily. "Status?"
"Secure," I said, handing Lily over to a trusted female medic who stepped up behind Vance. "Two suspects in custody upstairs and downstairs. One mercenary neutralized in my office."
Vance looked around the ruined foyer, taking in the blood on the floor, the broken furniture, and the terrified face of Vanessa Vale.
"We got your off-grid transmission from the vault server," Vance said, his face grave. "The moment you opened that file, it bypassed Vale’s jammer using military satellite routing. Federal Marshals are arresting Chairman Richard Vale right now at his office in Washington."
Vanessa heard this and let out a strangled, hopeless shriek. "No! My father is untouchable!"
"Not anymore, Ms. Vale," Vance said coldly, nodding to his officers. "Take her out. And get Carlisle out of the basement."
As the officers dragged a sobbing Vanessa and a dripping, trembling Grant out into the rain, Commander Vance walked over to me, handing me a warm thermal blanket.
"You did good, Evelyn," Vance said quietly. "But this goes deeper than just your husband’s greed. Richard Vale wasn't just stealing your estate. He was using Carlisle Logistics to move illegal arms across the border."
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I looked at Vance, my eyes narrowing. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying your husband wasn't just a puppet," Vance revealed, dropping a bombshell. "Grant was the mastermind who approached Vale in the first place."
