Chapter 6 - The Breach
"They cut the main transformer," Miller cursed, drawing his service weapon. "They're trying to blind us."
"They can cut the power, but they can't cut the thermal sensors," Nathan said calmly, tapping a command on his wall console. A secondary monitor above the desk flared to life, displaying real-time infrared heat signatures moving across the snowy patio outside.
Three figures in heavy tactical gear were creeping along the glass perimeter of the living room, carrying heavy cutting tools. At the center of the group stood Marcus Kane, his face twisted in a predatory snarl, wearing a heavy winter parka and holding a suppressed automatic rifle.
"They're going for the glass sliding doors on the west wing," Nathan assessed instantly. "Rosa! Take Lily and the babies down to the secure storm shelter in the basement. Lock the steel bulkhead from the inside and don't open it for anyone except me or Sheriff Miller."
Rosa bolted down the hallway, scooping the sleeping twins into her arms while gently waking Lily, her face pale with terror.
"Nathan, what's your play?" Miller asked, positioning himself near the hallway corner with a clear line of sight to the main foyer.
"We draw them into the open atrium," Nathan said, his surgical precision translating effortlessly into tactical warfare. "The open-concept design is a liability under normal circumstances, but right now, it’s a fishbowl. They won't expect armed resistance from a doctor."
CRASH!
The sound of shattering tempered glass echoed through the west wing as Marcus and his mercenaries broke through the sliding doors, stepping into the massive, open-concept living room. Shards of glass rained across the expensive hardwood floor like crystal needles.
"Nathan! I know you're in here, you arrogant prick!" Marcus’s voice boomed through the cavernous space, dripping with mocking amusement. "Hand over my kids and my wife's belongings, and maybe I won't put a bullet between your eyes!"
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Nathan stepped out from the hallway into the upper-level mezzanine, the Sig Sauer held firmly in a two-handed grip, pointed directly down at the atrium below.
"Sarah isn't coming back, Marcus," Nathan called out, his voice echoing off the stone walls with chilling clarity. "And neither are you."
