Chapter 6 - THE MOLE UNMASKED
The peaceful isolation of the mountain chalet was shattered at three o'clock the following morning.
Elena awoke instantly to the red emergency lights flashing silently along the baseboards of her room. Before she could sit up, Caden was at her bedside, fully dressed in black tactical gear, a silent firearm holstered at his chest.
"Stay down," Caden ordered softly, his voice dead calm. "Perimeter alarms were triggered at the south fence."
"Moretti?" Elena asked, her heart hammering wildly as she immediately slid out of bed and ran into the adjoining nursery to gather the toddlers.
"He shouldn't have known the location of this house," Caden said, his eyes darkening with a terrifying realization. "Only four people had these coordinates."
Outside, the faint pop of suppressed gunfire echoed through the trees. Ortega’s voice cracked over Caden’s earpiece: "Boss! They’re inside the courtyard! It was an insider—Marcus turned!"
Marcus. Caden’s chief of communications, a man who had worked for the Voss family for eight years.
Caden’s face turned to pure granite. "Ortega, secure the lower stairs. I am taking Elena and the children to the panic vault."
Elena gathered Maya in her arms while Julian and Leo clung to her waist, terrified by the flashing red lights. "Caden, what do we do?"
"You trust me," Caden said firmly. He grabbed her hand, leading her quickly through a hidden bookshelf door in his study that opened into a reinforced steel safe room hidden within the mountain bedrock.
"Stay inside. Lock the door from the control panel. Do not open it for anyone except me or Ortega," Caden instructed, pushing her gently inside with the three children.
"Caden, wait!" Elena caught his sleeve, her eyes wild with concern. "Don't die out there. Please."
Caden offered a small, fierce smile, kissing her quickly on the forehead. "They brought a war to my home, Elena. They are the ones who should be praying."
The heavy steel door sealed shut with a deafening hydraulic hiss.
Inside the vault, Elena held her crying children, watching the security monitors set into the wall. She watched on screen as Caden moved through the mansion like a shadow, taking down Moretti's armed mercenaries with terrifying, surgical precision.
When Marcus tried to slip through the rear corridor toward the vault, Caden appeared behind him like a ghost. The confrontation on the screen was silent, brief, and absolute. Marcus was disarmed and forced to his knees in seconds.
Twenty minutes later, the green indicator light on the vault door illuminated. The heavy steel door swung open, revealing Caden. His clothes were slightly dusty, but he was completely unharmed.
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He looked at Elena, who was standing defensively in front of their three children, and let out a breath of relief.
"It’s over," Caden said softly. "Marcus sold the location to Moretti for five million dollars. But he just gave us the ultimate weapon: Moretti’s signed order for the extraction of the children."
