Chapter 5 - THE SIEGE OF TRIBECA"Get down!" I roared, grabbing Mara by the waist and pulling her forcefully behind the heavy mahogany executive desk as a hail of suppressed gunfire shattered the glass partition of the office.
Glass rained down like jagged diamonds.
In the living room, the boys screamed in terror.
"Mom! Julian!" Milo’s terrified voice pierced through the sound of breaking glass and heavy combat boots stomping across my hardwood floors.
"Stay down!" I shouted back, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I reached into the hidden wall compartment behind my desk, pulling out my personal Glock 19 and a spare magazine. I hadn't had to use a firearm since my tactical training days in university, but muscle memory kicked in instantly.
Mara’s face was pale, but her eyes were burning with fierce maternal rage. She reached down, grabbing a heavy brass paperweight from the floor. "They're after the files," she whispered furiously. "They want the drives."
"They aren't getting a damn thing," I muttered.
I popped open the encrypted hard drive containing Uncle Arthur’s files, yanked it out of the USB port, and shoved it deep into my inner jacket pocket.
Heavy footsteps approached the office door. The barrel of a tactical rifle swept past the shattered glass frame.
I didn't hesitate. I leaned around the corner of the desk and fired two precise rounds into the drywall right beside the doorframe, forcing the intruder to stumble back with a curse.
"Julian, the panic room!" Mara yelled, pointing toward the sliding bookcase on the far wall. "The architectural plans! Your father installed a safe room behind the library!"
"Move!" I grabbed her hand, and together we sprinted from the desk toward the living room where the four boys were huddled in a terrified, trembling knot inside their pillow fort.
"Milo! Mason! Max! Micah! Grab each other's hands right now!" I commanded, my voice cutting through their crying.
They didn't hesitate. They locked hands instantly.
I scooped Max and Micah up in one arm while Mara grabbed Milo and Mason, sprinting toward the back of the library wall as another volley of bullets chewed up the wood paneling above our heads.
I slammed my palm against the biometric reader hidden behind a decorative globe.
BEEP.
The heavy steel bookshelf hissed, unlocked, and slid smoothly inward, revealing a pitch-black, reinforced concrete vault.
"Inside! Go, go, go!" I pushed Mara and the boys into the dark interior, firing three suppressing shots back down the hallway to buy us precious seconds.
The lead tactical operative rounded the corner, leveling his rifle directly at my chest.
I dove backward into the vault just as I slammed the emergency override button on the wall.
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CLANG.
The massive steel door sealed shut with a hydraulic hiss, locking into place just as a torrent of high-caliber rounds impacted the exterior surface, leaving deep, smoking dents in the metal.
