Chapter 7 - The Siege of the Estate
"Dad! Dad, wake up!"
The door to the study burst open, and Mateo stood there, wide-eyed and shaking, holding Sofia’s hand. The loud crash of the gate ramming had woken them up.
"Listen to me very carefully," Daniel said, moving with absolute, military-like precision. He grabbed a heavy iron fire poker from the hearth and handed it to Mateo, though his eyes softened as he looked at his son. "We don't have time to run. They're already inside the perimeter."
"Who's out there?" Sofia whimpered, burying her face in Mateo's jacket.
"Bad people, sweetie, but they're not getting past us," Daniel said firmly. He bolted the heavy study door from the inside, dropping a solid steel security bar across the brackets.
Footsteps echoed heavily in the hallway—boots marching with lethal intent.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A heavy shotgun blast ripped through the wooden panels of the study door, splintering the oak and sending shrapnel flying across the room.
"Daniel! Open the drive partition and hand over the master encryption keys, or we burn this entire house to the ground with you and the kids inside!" a raspy voice shouted from the hallway.
It was Viktor's voice? No. It sounded distorted over a digital modulator. It was Rebeca's primary handler—a man known in international intelligence circles only as 'The Broker.'
Daniel didn't answer. He quickly plugged a secure satellite transmitter into the main server rack, routing the entire encrypted folder of Elena’s evidence straight to federal servers with an automated public broadcast trigger set for exactly three minutes if his manual override wasn't confirmed.
Bang! Another shotgun blast shattered the door latch, and the heavy wood gave way, swinging inward.
A masked operative stepped through the threshold, leveling an assault rifle straight at Daniel’s chest.
"End of the line, old man," the operative sneered, flicking off the safety.
Before the man could pull the trigger, Mateo—acting on pure, desperate adrenaline—swung the heavy iron fire poker with all his might, catching the operative squarely behind the knee. The man let out a howl of pain, dropping his weapon as his leg buckled.
Daniel didn't hesitate. He slammed a heavy oak side table down onto the operative's chest, knocking him completely unconscious.
He snatched the fallen assault rifle, checked the chamber, and pulled Mateo and Sofia behind his back.
"Hold onto my belt, both of you. Don't look back," Daniel commanded.
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They bolted out of the side exit of the study through the private courtyard patio, heading straight toward the old boathouse by the lake where an emergency satellite communications relay was hidden.
Behind them, the mansion erupted into flames as the remaining intruders tossed incendiary grenades into the foyer. The house of secrets was burning to the ground, but the truth was already out in the open.
