Chapter 16 - The Alpine Infiltration
Four professional operatives, wearing dark tactical wetsuits and rappelling harnesses, had successfully scaled the sheer cliff face behind the estate, bypassing the ground-level gate sensors entirely. Armed with silent submachine guns and thermal-imaging scopes, they moved through the lower service corridors like ghosts.
Nathan positioned himself at the top of the grand staircase, just as he had done during the snowstorm siege months ago. But this time, he wasn't waiting for a frontal assault. He knew the layout of his home better than anyone.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Quiet footsteps echoed up the service stairs. The lead operative poked his head around the corner of the hallway, raising his weapon toward the master suite.
Nathan didn't give him a chance to aim. He fired a single, calculated shot into the drywall just above the operative's head, shattering a decorative wooden panel and showering the man in splinters.
"Contact! Second floor!" the operative shouted into his comms, ducking back behind the corner.
"You picked the wrong house to climb," Nathan called out, his voice echoing coldly down the hallway. "Tell Eleanor her trial has been canceled!"
Two flashbang grenades came flying around the corner, clattering across the hardwood floor.
"Get down!" Nathan yelled, dropping flat and covering his ears.
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FLASH! BANG!
A blinding white light and a deafening shockwave shook the hallway, ringing in Nathan's ears and filling the air with acrid smoke. Through the haze, two operatives charged forward, their weapons raised.
