Chapter 8 - Blood in the Courtyard
The two men stepped forward down the stone steps, their hands moving smoothly toward their sidearms.
"Daniel, get down!" I screamed.
Everything happened in a chaotic blur of motion.
Daniel drew his licensed weapon from under his jacket and fired two rapid shots into the gravel at the men's feet. The sharp, deafening cracks of gunfire echoed off the stone facade of the mansion. The two heavies dove behind the decorative stone balustrades for cover, drawing their pistols.
"Run!" Richard suddenly shrieked.
Panic overtook him completely. Instead of helping Victoria or protecting Emily, Richard bolted toward his silver Porsche, desperate to save his own skin. He leaped into the driver’s seat, revved the engine, and threw the car into reverse.
The tires shrieked against the gravel, kicking up a shower of stones.
"Richard, wait! Don't leave me!" Emily screamed, running down the steps toward the reversing car.
Richard didn't even look in his rearview mirror. In his blind, hysterical panic to escape the shootout, he floored the accelerator. The heavy rear of the Porsche slammed violently into the side of the Mercedes SUV, crushing the rear door and spinning out of control. The back end whipped around, striking the stone retaining wall with a sickening crunch of metal and shattering glass.
Richard was thrown forward against the steering wheel, his head smashing into the windshield as the airbag exploded late with a deafening pop.
"Emily, get inside!" Victoria screamed, her elegant composure finally cracking as she scrambled toward the heavy oak doors.
"Nobody move!" a booming voice roared over a megaphone from the bottom of the long driveway.
Sirens. Dozens of them.
Three black tactical SUVs bearing the yellow seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation barreled up the cobblestones, followed closely by five New York State Police cruisers. Their red and blue emergency lights washed the elegant facade of Willow Creek in flashing crimson.
Tactical officers in full body armor poured out of the vehicles, assault rifles raised.
"FBI! Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons now!"
Victoria’s two hired gunmen immediately threw their pistols onto the gravel and fell flat onto their stomachs with their hands behind their heads.
Victoria stood frozen on the top step, the crystal scotch glass slipping from her paralyzed fingers. It shattered on the stone, amber liquid splashing across her cream designer shoes.
Daniel lowered his weapon, holding his badge and credentials high in the air as federal agents swarmed the courtyard, securing the perimeter in less than thirty seconds.
Special Agent Sarah Vance—no relation to Richard—marched up the steps, her badge flashing in the fading afternoon light. Behind her, two agents pinned Victoria’s arms behind her back, ratcheting steel handcuffs around her wrists.
"Victoria Reed," Agent Vance said coldly. "You are under arrest for the murder of Robert Scott, corporate conspiracy, and the attempted homicide of Arthur Mercer."
"This is an outrage!" Victoria shrieked, struggling against the steel cuffs as her chignon came undone, strands of hair falling wild across her face. "You have no proof! You have nothing!"
"We have your encrypted offshore accounts, Mrs. Reed," Agent Vance said, pulling a sealed evidence bag from her tactical vest. "And thanks to Mr. Ross’s emergency dispatch three hours ago, we intercepted Dr. Mercer’s private courier in Fort Lee before your thugs could destroy the courier's safe. We have the frozen baseline vials, fully cataloged under federal chain of custody."
Victoria went entirely limp in the agents' grip. Her gaze darted to me, her eyes burning with pure, unadulterated venom.
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"You ruined everything, Clara," she spat, her voice a ragged hiss. "Your father would have left this company to dust! He didn't care about you!"
"My father protected me from the grave, Victoria," I said, walking slowly up the steps until I was inches from her face. "And now you will spend the rest of your life staring at concrete walls, remembering that you lost everything to his daughter."
