Chapter 5 - The Siege of the Estate
Back at the Long Island mansion, the rain had turned into a howling northeast gale. Tree branches whipped wildly against the high stone walls, and thunder rumbled across the ocean.
Claire stood inside the nursery, holding Eli against her shoulder as she swayed back and forth near the crib.
Her silver phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out immediately, seeing a text message from Dominic:
IT IS TIME. LOCK DOWN THE ROOM.
Claire’s heart slammed against her ribs. She tapped the screen, activating the closed-circuit comms. "Victor, she's moving."
"Copy that, Ms. Bennett," Victor’s low voice came through the phone’s speaker. "My men are in position throughout the second-floor corridor. We’ll take her as soon as she enters the nursery."
Outside in the dark gardens, heavy footsteps rustled through the wet bushes.
Four black un-marked vans, their lights completely off, pulled up along the rear perimeter fence of the estate. The chain-link fence was cleanly severed with heavy bolt cutters, and twelve men in black tactical gear, carrying suppressed submachine guns, poured onto the lawn.
Carmine Moretti was not taking any chances. He had sent his elite hit squad to ensure that once Julianna planted the poison, no witnesses—including Claire, Victor, and the entire night guard—would survive to testify.
Inside the mansion’s ground-floor security center, a guard monitoring the thermal perimeter monitors suddenly gasped.
"Breach! Rear garden! We have twelve hostiles moving—"
TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!
Suppressed automatic fire shattered the glass windows of the security control room. The feed went dead.
upstairs in the nursery hallway, the emergency lights suddenly flashed red, and a loud, piercing alarm began to blare throughout the estate!
Claire gasped, clutching Eli tightly to her chest.
Victor’s voice erupted through the silver phone, filled with static and heavy gunfire. "Ms. Bennett! Perimeter breach! Moretti hit squad inside the house! Lock the nursery panic door NOW!"
Before Claire could reach the heavy steel electronic panel near the crib, the oak door of the nursery was kicked open with a thunderous BANG!
Julianna stood in the doorway, holding a small silver pistol, her eyes wide with unhinged, hysterical fury.
Behind her down the hall, heavy gunfire echoed—the sharp CRACK of Victor’s team engaging the invading mercenaries.
"You!" Julianna screamed over the blaring alarm, raising the pistol directly at Claire’s head. "You ruined everything! You brought Dr. Walsh into this! I saw his car at the gates yesterday!"
"Julianna, put the gun down!" Claire shouted, stepping backward until her calf pressed against the nursery crib, shielding Eli with her own body. "Dominic knows everything! He knows about the wire transfer! He knows about Carmine!"
"I don't care what Dominic knows!" Julianna shrieked, her hand shaking violently on the grip. "If I can't have the Moretti trust, no one will! Step away from that baby, baker girl, or I'll put a bullet through your heart!"
Outside the nursery door, two black-clad mercenaries appeared behind Julianna, raising their submachine guns to clear the hallway.
"Julianna, clear out!" one mercenary yelled. "Moretti ordered the whole floor cleared!"
Julianna smirked, her finger tightening on the trigger. "Goodbye, Claire."
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In that split second, Claire didn't hesitate.
She reached into her green clutch bag, pressed the red panic button on the silver phone, and threw herself to the floor behind the reinforced hardwood changing table just as a hail of bullets tore through the nursery wall!
