Chapter 6 - The Shattered Glass
The red emergency lights strobed across the room, casting deep shadows over Eleanor’s pale face. The guard’s finger tightened visibly on the trigger of his pistol, his knuckles white with tension.
“Vance…?” Eleanor whispered, her voice weak and disbelieving.
“Stay still, Eleanor,” Vance said smoothly, keeping his eyes locked on the gunman. He took a tiny, imperceptible half-step to the left, angling his body to shield Eleanor from any potential crossfire.
“I said don't move!” the gunman shouted, his eyes darting frantically between Vance and the doorway where Ray was positioning himself.
“You’re working for a man whose accounts were frozen two hours ago,” Vance said, his voice cold and hypnotic in its calm. “Your retainer wire bounced at noon. You’re holding a gun on a mother for a paycheck that doesn't exist.”
The gunman hesitated for a fraction of a second—a micro-delay in his focus as his mind processed the information.
That instant was all Vance needed.
Vance lunged forward, grabbing the barrel of the pistol and forcing it skyward just as a round discharged with a muffled pop, shattering the high light fixture overhead. Vance twisted the weapon out of the contractor's grip, delivered a crushing elbow strike to his jaw, and slammed him against the glass window. The reinforced pane cracked in a spiderweb pattern before the guard collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
Vance immediately turned to Eleanor, dropping to his knees beside her chair and checking her wrist for a pulse. “Are you hurt?”
Tears welled in Eleanor’s eyes as she gripped Vance’s coat sleeve. “Lily… Vance, where is Lily? They took her… Marcus took her…”
“She’s safe,” Vance assured her, his hand resting reassuringly over hers. “I brought her home last night. She’s at the compound, completely unharmed.”
Eleanor let out a shaky sob of relief, collapsing against Vance’s shoulder. “Julian told me I’d never see her again… he said if I talked about the club’s money laundering, he’d make sure she vanished.”
“Julian’s reign is over,” Vance said firmly. He stood up, lifting Eleanor gently into his arms just as Ray cleared the hallway outside.
“Perimeter is secure, sir,” Ray reported. “We have three minutes before state police units respond to the automated alarm.”
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“Get us to the vehicles,” Vance ordered.
They moved quickly through the shattered remains of the clinic’s lobby, entering the cool mountain air. As the convoy sped away down the mountain pass, Vance looked back at the retreating outline of the facility. The rescue was complete, but he knew Julian was now backed into a corner—and a cornered rat always bites back.
