Chapter 5 - Siege in the Dark"Dad, look!" Leo pointed frantically at the corner monitor.
The three masked figures had already cut through the perimeter security fence and were swarming up the grand front steps of the mansion. Their movements were precise, military-grade—not petty thieves, but professional cleaners sent to erase every shred of evidence before federal investigators could return in the morning.
"We need to get out of here. Now," Marcus hissed, scooping Leo up into his arms. He bolted toward the heavy oak doors of the west wing, but before he could reach them, a loud, metallic clack echoed through the corridor.
The deadbolts on the outer doors slammed shut on their own.
Marcus threw his weight against the heavy wood, slamming his shoulder into the panels. It didn't budge. The smart-home system—tied directly to Elena’s encrypted servers—had locked them inside the wing.
"Dad, the window!" Leo cried, pointing toward a narrow, stained-glass Gothic window overlooking the rocky cliffside high above the crashing ocean waves.
Marcus didn't hesitate. He grabbed a heavy metal floor lamp from the corner and hurled it straight through the center of the stained-glass window. Shards of colored glass rained down into the dark abyss outside.
Just as Marcus hoisted Leo onto the stone windowsill, heavy boots slammed against the wooden floorboards of the main hallway outside the west wing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore through the heavy wooden doors, splintering the ancient panels and showering the room with wood dust. A muffled, gravelly voice echoed from the hallway: "Clear the rooms! Leave no witnesses! The boss wants everything wiped clean before dawn!"
"Hold on to my neck, Leo! Don't look down!" Marcus roared over the roar of the ocean below.
He climbed out onto the narrow stone ledge, the freezing Pacific wind whipping violently around them. Five hundred feet straight down, jagged rocks churned white foam against the cliff base. It was the exact spot where Sarah had supposedly fallen three years ago.
Marcus gripped a thick ivy vine clinging to the ancient stone facade, his muscles screaming as he lowered himself and his son down the sheer cliff face just as the west wing door was kicked off its hinges with a deafening crash.
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Flashlights swept across the empty room above them.
"The bird has flown!" a voice barked into a tactical radio. "They're on the cliffside! Hunt them down!"
