Chapter 18 - THE TURNING POINT
"Let her go first," I shouted back, my stance balanced, my weight shifting to my back foot just as my military-veteran father had taught me years ago before he passed away. The tailored man chuckled, a deep, resonant sound devoid of human empathy. "You aren't in a position to negotiate, Elena. Drop the weapon." He pressed the cold barrel of a silencer against Lily’s temple. Time seemed to fracture into slow motion. Every heartbeat felt like an eternity. I looked at Toby, who was struggling to stand near the edge of the cliff. With a sudden, explosive burst of adrenaline, I didn't drop the gun—I raised it, bypassed the man in the suit entirely, and fired straight into the overhead electrical cable dangling from the lighthouse's rusted maintenance crane. The heavy live wire snapped with a blinding shower of blue electrical sparks, whipping through the air and wrapping directly around the tailored man's ankle. A violent surge of high-voltage current tore through him. He screamed, dropping Lily as his body locked up and he collapsed backward into the brush.
