Chapter 2 - The Walls Have Ears
Adrian jiggled the brass handle violently.
It was completely locked from the outside.
He pressed his ear against the wood, listening to Naomi’s rapid footsteps fading down the marble hallway.
His mind raced as he turned back to the hidden compartment.
This house had been in his family for four generations.
He knew every blueprint by heart, but he had never seen this hidden space before.
Adrian grabbed the lockbox and the bloody flash drive.
He shined his phone flashlight into the dark cavity.
The space opened up into a narrow maintenance shaft filled with pipes and old wiring.
He realized this was a servant's passage designed decades ago.
Adrian stepped into the dusty darkness and pulled the oak panel shut behind him.
He crept sideways through the tight space, moving parallel to the main hallway.
Voices echoed from the ventilation grate near the floor.
He knelt in the dust and peered through the metal slats into the staff corridor.
Naomi was backed against the wall, clutching Zuri to her chest.
Towering over her was Vance, Adrian’s trusted head of security.
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Vance casually screwed a silencer onto the barrel of a black pistol.
"You told me the kid didn't find anything," Vance said coldly.
