Chapter 6 - THE SIEGE OF MANSION BLUFFSRed strobe lights flashed violently along the third-floor hallway as the automated defense protocols engaged. Heavy steel shutters slammed down over the exterior windows of the mansion, sealing the building like a submarine under pressure.
Marcus Vance’s voice crackled instantly through the intercom speakers in the room.
"Boss! We’ve got incoming! Multiple vehicles breaching the security gate on Lake Drive. At least twenty heavily armed men. They’re carrying O'Malley insignias and Whitmore security credentials. They’re trying to breach the front doors!"
Julian’s sorrow vanished in a microsecond, replaced instantly by the lethal, calculating coldness of a cartel commander. The monster was awake.
"Lock down the panic room in the basement for Claire and Emma," Julian commanded, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "Marcus, deploy the interior security grid. Use non-lethal suppressants in the west wing, but if any of them step foot in the central foyer with a weapon... execute them on sight."
"Copy that, Boss," Marcus replied over the roar of automatic gunfire echoing through the outdoor intercoms.
Claire grabbed Julian’s sleeve, her face pale with terror. "Emma! She’s still in the guest suite!"
"I have her," Julian said, his hand gripping Claire’s shoulder with reassuring strength. He strode swiftly out of the third-floor room, sweeping Emma up from the guest suite as Margaret frantically rushed to herd them toward the hidden elevator shaft behind the library.
"Stay inside," Julian ordered Claire, his dark eyes locking onto hers with fierce intensity. "Nothing in this world will touch you or your daughter while I breathe."
The heavy steel door of the panic room slid shut with a hydraulic hiss, plunging them into soft, amber illumination.
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Outside, the mansion shuddered as the front doors were blown off their hinges.
The battle for Mercer House had begun.
