Chapter 26 - Burning Skies
The supersonic jet rocketed down the subterranean runway, blasting out of the mountainside into the freezing Swiss sky before banking hard toward the west at Mach 2. Inside the pressurized cabin, the digital flight clock ticked away every agonizing second.
Estimated Time to California: 9 hours, 42 minutes.
I sat strapped into the leather jump seat, my hands clenched so tightly around my carbine that my knuckles turned white. My mind raced through every worst-case scenario. Bruno was a veteran of a hundred firefights, but if the Zurich board had deployed heavy tactical units with thermal imaging and explosive breaching charges, the estate’s inner sanctum would be tested to its absolute limit.
Across the aisle, my father sat in silence, examining a rugged military-grade tablet displaying live satellite telemetry of the Pacific coastline.
"They won't kill the children immediately," Vincent said quietly, breaking the heavy tension in the cabin. "Leverage is too valuable. They want the bloodline intact to force us to surrender the global syndicate keys."
"If they lay a single finger on Theo, Miles, Nora, or Sophie, I will tear their entire organization down to the bedrock," I replied, every word dripping with absolute ice.
"I know you will," Vincent nodded slowly. "That is why I stepped aside twenty years ago, Adrien. I taught you how to build an empire, but you learned how to protect a family. That makes you infinitely more dangerous than I ever was."
The hours bled together in a blur of terrifying anticipation. As the jet began its rapid descent over the Pacific, cutting through the heavy cloud cover toward the California coastline, the cockpit radio crackled to life with a weak, scrambled audio frequency.
May you like
"Boss... if you're... hearing this..." Bruno’s voice cut through the static, strained and breathless. "...they breached the safe room. We're holding the basement, but—"
The transmission dissolved into a burst of white noise.
