Chapter 6 - THE GUN
My father stepped in front of me.
Julian laughed.
“Of course.”
Victor's voice stayed calm.
“Put it down.”
“You think you can walk into my building and take everything?”
“You're holding a firearm in a burning office tower.”
“This is my building.”
“Not for much longer.”
Julian's eyes twitched.
That landed.
His hand tightened around the gun.
Daniel and the security team froze near the stairwell. Nobody wanted to make the wrong move.
Smoke thickened behind Julian.
I looked at the metal case in his left hand.
“What are you carrying?”
His eyes flicked toward me.
“None of your business.”
“Then why are you willing to shoot your way out with it?”
“Shut up.”
I knew Julian.
Anger made him sloppy.
So I pushed.
“What's inside?”
“Shut up.”
“Company records?”
His jaw clenched.
“Bank files?”
Nothing.
“Proof?”
His expression changed.
There.
I smiled.
“You're afraid of what's in that case.”
Julian pointed the gun directly at me.
My father moved.
I caught his arm.
“No.”
Julian laughed.
“Still protecting him?”
“No.”
I looked my husband straight in the eyes.
“I'm protecting you from the stupidest decision you'll ever make.”
He stared.
I kept talking.
“You shoot me, you don't leave this building.”
“You don't know that.”
“Six people are watching you.”
“The cameras are off.”
Daniel lifted his phone.
“Actually, they're back.”
Julian's face changed.
Daniel turned the screen.
The red recording icon was visible.
For the first time, Julian's gun lowered an inch.
Then the sprinkler system exploded overhead.
Water crashed down.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Someone shouted.
Julian ran.
Security chased him toward the east stairwell.
My father pulled me back.
Daniel raced after them.
We heard a gunshot.
Then another.
A man screamed.
I broke away from my father and ran.
“Elena!”
I reached the stairwell.
One security guard was down, clutching his shoulder.
Daniel knelt beside him.
Julian was gone.
But the metal case lay open on the landing.
Empty.
Almost empty.
One photograph had fallen beneath the lid.
I picked it up.
It showed Julian standing beside Selene.
Across from them was another man.
Older.
Gray suit.
Sharp face.
I recognized him.
Senator Malcolm Voss.
Chairman of the Senate Commerce Oversight Committee.
The man currently leading a federal inquiry into corruption in corporate acquisitions.
On the back, someone had written a date.
The same night Vale Meridian bought Horizon Systems.
And underneath it, four words.
PAYMENT CONFIRMED. DEAL CLEARED.
My father read it over my shoulder.
His expression became grim.
“This is bigger than embezzlement.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Selene.
Sitting in the back of a car.
And beside her—
Julian.
Below the photo were six words.
YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO TRADE.
Then another message came.
BRING THE HORIZON DRIVE.
I stared at it.
Because there was only one problem.
I had never heard of the Horizon drive.
May you like
But apparently Julian believed I had it.
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