Chapter 2 - The Midnight Ambush
"Mara, get down!" Dante shouted.
The command was unnecessary. The window shattered into a thousand glittering shards as a hail of suppressed gunfire tore through the room. Mara dived to the floor, covering her head as plaster and wood rained down upon her.
In the dark, she heard the heavy, metallic thud of Dante’s wheelchair tipping over.
"Dante!" she screamed, abandoning all professional distance.
"I'm fine!" his voice barked through the dark, filled with a ferocious rage rather than fear. "Viktor, return fire!"
Muzzle flashes illuminated the room in violent, strobe-like bursts. Viktor was stationed at the doorway, unleashing a torrent of lead into the hallway. The smell of sulfur and cordite filled the air, choking Mara’s lungs.
Through the chaos, Mara crawled on her hands and knees, ignoring the glass cutting into her palms. She found Dante on the floor. Without his chair, he was vulnerable, but his upper body strength was immense. He had already drawn a matte-black pistol from beneath his pillow and was firing with deadly precision toward the shattered window.
"You need to get to the panic room," Mara hissed, grabbing his shoulder.
"Can't make it," Dante grunted, firing another round. "The elevator shaft is in the west wing. They knew exactly where to cut the power to trap me up here."
They knew. The realization hit Mara like a physical blow. The security at the Vale mansion was legendary. The only way an strike team could breach the perimeter and cut the specific power lines to the elevator was with inside information.
A shadow appeared at the window frame—a mercenary clad in black tactical gear, raising a rifle.
Without thinking, Mara grabbed the heavy silver tray holding Dante’s medical supplies and hurled it across the room. It struck the mercenary squarely in the face, throwing off his aim. The rifle discharged into the ceiling, raining plaster down on him.
"Good throw," Dante growled. An instant later, his pistol barked twice. The mercenary collapsed backward out of the window, falling into the darkness below.
Viktor managed to slam the reinforced bedroom door shut, locking the heavy deadbolts. "The hallway is clear for now, Boss, but they brought a thermite charge. We have less than two minutes before they burn through the door."
Mara looked at Dante, then at the heavy draperies hanging by the broken window. "We aren't going down the elevator. We're going down the balcony."
"I can't walk, Quinn," Dante reminded her, his voice deadpan despite the bullets hitting the door outside.
"But you can climb, and I can guide you," she said, her chaotic energy kicking into overdrive. "Viktor, tie those drapes to the structural pillar. Now!"
As Viktor scrambled to comply, the reinforced door began to glow a bright, terrifying orange in the center. The smell of burning metal filled the room. The enemies were melting their way in.
Mara helped Dante drag himself to the balcony edge. Viktor secured the makeshift rope.
"Go first, Mara," Dante ordered. "If they hit me, I don't want to fall on you."
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"Shut up and hold on to me," Mara snapped, wrapping her arms around his neck while securing herself to the heavy fabric. "We do this together."
As the bedroom door exploded inward in a shower of sparks and flame, they dropped over the ledge into the freezing night air.
