Chapter 12 - The Shadow in the City of Light
The sleek black private jet cut silently through the dense cloud cover as we descended rapidly toward a private airstrip just outside of Paris.
Chloe sat across from me in the luxurious cabin, typing furiously on a heavily encrypted tactical laptop.
She had successfully bypassed the French municipal traffic grid and was actively tracking the license plate of the luxury town car from the photograph.
She coldly informed me that Eleanor was currently living in a massive, highly fortified chateau on the wealthy outskirts of the city.
The sprawling estate was completely protected by armed guards, laser grid sensors, and a state-of-the-art surveillance system.
Derek was actively using the chateau as a safe house, completely believing he had entirely escaped my father's wrath and the American justice system.
We landed smoothly in the early hours of the morning, stepping out into the cold, crisp European air.
A heavily armored SUV was already waiting for us on the tarmac, arranged by Evelyn's extensive network of international contacts.
I drove the vehicle myself, navigating the narrow, winding roads with absolute, ruthless precision.
I felt an incredible surge of pure adrenaline pumping through my veins, entirely erasing the exhaustion of the long flight.
We parked the SUV on a dark, wooded ridge overlooking the massive stone chateau.
Chloe deployed a small, silent surveillance drone into the night sky, beaming a live infrared feed directly to a digital tablet on my dashboard.
The thermal imaging clearly showed heavy patrol routes and multiple armed sentries pacing the perimeter walls.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the third-floor balcony of the estate.
I raised a pair of high-powered binoculars and looked directly through the glass doors.
Derek Vale was standing on the balcony, wearing an expensive silk robe and holding a glass of aged scotch.
He looked entirely relaxed, completely convinced that he had successfully outsmarted the Sterling empire.
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He laughed at something said inside the room, completely oblivious to the fact that his ultimate nightmare was currently sitting just a few hundred yards away in the dark woods.
I lowered the binoculars and casually loaded a sleek, suppressed tactical pistol.
