Chapter 4 - The Midnight Raid
By 3:15 AM, the rain outside Callum’s waterfront penthouse had escalated into a howling gale.
Inside the residence, the lights were dimmed. Elena stood near the floor-to-ceiling windows, her hands trembling as she watched three black law enforcement SUVs pull up to the building’s private circular driveway below.
In the master bedroom, Juny and Tess were sitting up in the king-sized bed. They had been awakened by the low hum of security radios outside their door.
Juny had her arms wrapped tightly around her sister’s shoulders. Tess was clutching her stuffed bear, her small face pale with terror.
"Is Mommy here?" Tess asked, her voice shaking. "Are the bad men here?"
The heavy oak door of the master bedroom swung open softly.
Callum stepped into the room. He had removed his suit jacket, wearing a black fitted turtleneck and tactical trousers. His expression was calm, serene, and utterly unshakeable.
He walked over to the bed, dropping down on one knee beside the two small girls.
"Hey," Callum said gently. "Nobody is going to hurt you."
"There are flashing lights outside," Juny whispered, looking toward the window. "When the flashing lights came to our apartment last month, Mommy made us hide in the closet."
"The flashing lights outside belong to people who have been lied to," Callum explained, reaching out and gently smoothing Juny’s dark hair back. "Some men are coming up the elevator right now. They think they're going to take you away."
Tess’s eyes filled with fat, silent tears. "Are we going to the bench again?"
"Never," Callum said, his voice carrying a power so absolute that both girls instantly stopped trembling. "Listen to me, Juny. Listen to me, Tess. I promised you on that waterfront that you were safe with me. I don't break my promises."
The heavy front door of the penthouse echoed with three thunderous knocks.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Pierce Global Security! King County Law Enforcement! Open this door immediately under Emergency Extraction Order 44-B!" a voice boomed through the hallway speaker.
Elena rushed into the bedroom, her face white. "Callum! It’s Judge Miller’s private enforcement squad! They have a forcible entry warrant!"
Callum stood up slowly. He looked at Gabriel, who was standing by the bedroom door holding a secure satellite phone.
"Is the helicopter on the roof?" Callum asked flatly.
"Engine running, double-bladed Sikorsky S-76," Gabriel confirmed. "Flight plan cleared for my private estate in Idaho outside state jurisdiction."
"Good," Callum said. He looked at Elena. "Take the girls up the private fire stairwell to the helipad now."
"Callum!" Elena gasped. "If you defy a judicial extraction order, you will be hit with federal kidnapping charges! You could lose your entire company!"
Callum turned his head, looking at the two small, innocent girls huddled on the bed in their lavender coats, holding their lavender suitcases.
"Let them try to take my company," Callum said quietly. "I'll build another one. Take them to the roof."
Callum walked out of the bedroom, walking down the long, marble corridor toward the front door.
The heavy oak door was being battered by an hydraulic ram.
BOOM!
The lock shattered, and six heavily armed men in black tactical vests bearing the crest of the King County Sheriff’s Department burst into the foyer, weapons drawn, led by a stern, sharp-featured female state prosecutor named Victoria Sterling.
"Callum Pierce!" Prosecutor Sterling shouted, stepping over the broken door frame, holding a high-court document. "You are in illegal possession of two state wards! Surrender the children immediately or you will be placed under arrest for felony interference!"
Callum stood in the center of his living room, his hands casually in his pockets, his posture towering, completely unbothered by the six assault rifles pointed at his chest.
"Prosecutor Sterling," Callum said smoothly. "You're thirty seconds too late."
Sterling’s eyes narrowed. "What?"
Above them, through the thick concrete ceilings of the penthouse, the deep, thunderous roar of helicopter blades began to beat against the rain-swept night.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.
Sterling’s face turned bright red with rage. "You sent them away?! Search the roof! Arrest him!"
"Touch me," Callum said, his voice dropping into a register so dark and cold that the officers carrying the weapons hesitated, "and my legal team will file eighty-five individual civil rights lawsuits against every officer in this room before the sun comes up. I know who paid Judge Miller for that warrant, Victoria. I know about the Kray account in Nassau."
Sterling froze, the color draining from her lips.
May you like
Callum stepped forward, stepping right through the line of armed officers, who instinctively parted to let him pass.
"Keep my penthouse clean while I'm gone," Callum said over his shoulder as he walked toward the private elevator. "I'm going to bring those girls' mother home."
