Chapter 5 - The Glass Shatters
Mara sank onto the edge of a mahogany armchair, her body wracked with uncontrollable tremors.
Damian stepped over to the vanity table, picked up a clean linen handkerchief, and pressed it against her neck.
His touch was surprisingly gentle for a man whose hands had ended dozens of lives.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Mara whispered through ragged sobs.
"If you saw the camera, why didn't you send your guards to shoot him?"
"Because half the guards in this house were hired through Viktor’s shell companies," Damian replied coldly.
"If I strike without eliminating his loyalists first, this house becomes an execution chamber.
He has twenty armed men stationed around the perimeter.
I have three men I can trust with my life."
He walked over to his wall safe concealed behind an oil painting of the Volga River.
He pulled out a heavy black satellite phone and dialed a ten-digit encrypted number.
"Andrei," Damian spoke into the receiver.
"Bring twelve men from Chicago.
Bring heavy hardware and medical transport.
The snake in my garden is striking tonight."
He hung up the phone and looked down at Lila, who was carefully stacking dominoes on the coffee table.
She picked up the double-six tile and handed it to Damian with an innocent, toothy smile.
Damian looked down at the tiny tile, then closed his fist around it until his knuckles turned white.
"If anything happens to me, Mara," Damian said, his voice unwavering, "there is a Swiss deposit key taped beneath the third drawer of this desk.
It contains enough bearer bonds to buy your daughter the finest medical care in the world and keep you safe forever."
"Don't talk like that," Mara said, wiping her tears.
"You have to survive."
"I survived three bullet wounds and two car bombs," Damian replied grimly.
"I will not die from rat poison delivered by a cowardly cousin."
Suddenly, the heavy glass of the French balcony doors shattered into millions of sparkling shards.
The sharp crack of a high-powered sniper rifle echoed from the distant tree line across the estate.
A copper-jacketed bullet tore through the room, striking the mahogany headboard inches above Lila’s head.
Mara screamed, lunging across the floor to shield her daughter with her own body.
Damian reacted with supernatural speed, tackling both of them to the floor beneath the heavy oak desk.
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Before the dust could settle, the mansion’s high-voltage emergency sirens began to wail in shrieking discord.
From the hallway outside, the sound of heavy tactical boots and automatic weapons racking echoed toward their door.
