Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Walls
A chill washed over my bruised body. The mercenary who had rammed my SUV off the coastal cliffs was hunting within my walls.
"Where is he?" I asked, standing up. The medic tried to stop me, but I brushed him off.
"The security grid lost him in the subterranean levels," Vance reported, tapping his tablet. "Down near the boiler rooms and the employee access tunnels. The cameras went dark down there three minutes ago. He's shooting them out."
I looked at Arthur. He was actually smiling. It was a sick, twisted grin of a desperate man.
"He's a professional, Victoria," Arthur taunted. "His name is Elias. He doesn't leave a job unfinished. You might own the building, but he owns the shadows. Once he realizes the doors are locked, he'll come looking for the one person who can open them."
"You," Sylvia realized, her eyes widening in horror as she looked at me. "He's coming for you."
"Vance," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Leave two men here to guard these traitors. I want a perimeter established around the penthouse elevator. No one comes up. But I am not going to cower in a boardroom."
I walked over to the biometric terminal on the wall. Swiping my bloody thumb across the scanner, I accessed the architectural blueprints of the estate. The subterranean levels were a maze of concrete and steam pipes.
"Ms. Kaelen, you need to stay here," Vance insisted. "My men can sweep the basement."
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"Your men don't know this building like I do," I replied, pulling my ruined jacket tight around my bandaged ribs. "My father built these tunnels. He taught me every blind spot, every maintenance shaft. Elias thinks he's hunting a pampered heiress. He doesn't realize he's locked in a cage with the architect."
I took a stun-pistol from one of the guards, checking the battery charge. "Vance, you're with me. Let's go catch a ghost."
