Chapter 9 - The Final Act of Desperation
Thick black smoke billowed through the grand lobby of the Holloway corporate headquarters.
Natalie walked slowly through the debris, her designer heels crunching loudly on the shattered glass.
Lauren was standing near the front reception desk, violently holding a terrified hotel manager at gunpoint.
The crude explosive vest strapped to Lauren's chest blinked with a menacing, erratic red light.
Lauren screamed at Natalie to stop moving and demanded to see the briefcase full of bearer bonds.
Natalie held up her hands to show they were completely empty, carrying absolutely no money at all.
She calmly told Lauren that the explosive vest was a completely fake prop built from useless computer parts.
Lauren's eyes widened in panicked confusion as she looked down at the blinking wires on her chest.
Natalie explained that her security team had disabled the building's explosive materials storage weeks ago.
Lauren realized her massive bluff had been entirely exposed, leaving her with absolutely zero leverage.
In a final act of pure desperation, Lauren raised her silver handgun and aimed it directly at Natalie's heart.
She screamed that if she could not be rich, she would at least be the woman who murdered the great Natalie Whitmore.
Lauren aggressively pulled the trigger with a terrifying, unhinged scream of pure rage.
A loud, hollow click echoed harmlessly across the silent, smoky lobby.
The silver handgun had completely jammed, rendered useless by the thick chemical foam from the server room earlier.
Natalie did not even flinch as she stared down the barrel of the broken weapon.
She simply stepped forward and delivered a flawless, punishing strike across Lauren's jaw.
Lauren collapsed heavily onto the marble floor, completely unconscious before she even hit the ground.
The SWAT team immediately rushed into the building and secured the dangerous area.
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Natalie straightened her slightly ruined black dress and took a deep, calming breath of fresh air.
The war was finally over, and she had emerged entirely victorious.
