Chapter 7 - The Desperate Strike
I should have felt victorious, but a cold prickle of unease ran down my spine. Sterling was cornered, but Victor was still out there. And a cornered animal is the most dangerous.
"Marcus, double-check the perimeter at the cabin," I ordered, tapping the divider. "Sterling just ordered Victor to go after Clara. If Victor realizes they aren't in Evanston, he might have a way to track us."
"The Aston is clean, Boss," Marcus said. "But... wait. Clara’s cell phone. Did she leave it at the house?"
My blood ran cold. "Clara," I said over the comms. "Do you have your old cell phone with you?"
There was a pause. "Yes, it's in my diaper bag. Why?"
"Turn it off! Smash it!" I yelled. "Victor can ping the GPS!"
"Boss," Marcus interrupted, his voice tight. "Perimeter alarms at the Glass Fortress just tripped. Motion sensors in the east woods."
Victor hadn't waited for Sterling's orders. He had tracked the phone the moment we fled.
"How far out are we?" I demanded, grabbing an assault rifle from the hidden compartment under the seat.
"Fifteen minutes," Marcus swore, flooring the gas.
"Clara, listen to me," I spoke into the comms, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm. "Take Maya and go into the panic room beneath the command center. Lock the vault door. Do not open it for anyone but me."
"I see them on the cameras, Julian," Clara's voice was remarkably steady, though I could hear the terror beneath it. "There are six of them. Heavily armed."
"Get to the vault!" I screamed.
"I love you, Julian," she whispered. The line went dead.
May you like
I loaded a magazine into the rifle, the metallic click echoing in the tense silence of the SUV. I had destroyed Sterling’s empire, but if I lost Clara and Maya tonight, I lost everything.
"Drive faster," I told Marcus.
