Chapter 1 - The Dark Sedan
Mathis stared through the tiny basement window at the idling black vehicle.
The rain started to fall, blurring the streetlights into smeared yellow lines.
He reached for the communication device clipped to his belt.
"Luc, status report," he whispered into the microphone.
Static hissed back at him, thick and heavy with silence.
The two bodyguards he had left upstairs were highly trained professionals.
They would never miss a radio check unless they were dead or compromised.
Elise backed away from the window, her hands instinctively wrapping around her swollen belly.
"I told you they were tracking me," she said with a trembling voice.
Mathis pulled his weapon from his shoulder holster.
"Luc is driving that car," he admitted quietly.
Elise's eyes widened in sheer panic.
Luc had been his most trusted man for over a decade.
If his brother Nicolas had bought Luc, then the entire security apparatus of the Varenne empire was compromised.
Footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs leading down to the basement.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps.
"We have to leave right now," Mathis said.
He scanned the cramped room and noticed a rusted iron grate covering an old coal chute.
With a surge of adrenaline, he kicked the grate, breaking the ancient masonry.
He helped Elise squeeze through the narrow opening into the dark alleyway behind the building.
Cold mud soaked through their shoes as they emerged into the freezing November night.
Mathis reached out to help her stand up.
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Suddenly, a blinding white spotlight clicked on from above.
A high-tech surveillance drone hovered perfectly at eye level, a red laser targeting system blinking directly on Mathis's chest.
