Chapter 2 - The First BulletAt 11:47 p.m., the lights went out.
Blackwood Manor vanished into darkness.
Cassian immediately reached beneath his desk.
He drew a pistol.
“Marcus.”
“Already moving.”
The mansion erupted.
Glass shattered in the east wing.
Automatic gunfire tore through the silence.
Someone screamed.
Then the entire compound came alive.
Men shouted into radios.
Footsteps thundered across marble halls.
The security system began issuing warnings in overlapping mechanical voices.
“South perimeter breached.”
“Vehicle approaching.”
“Multiple targets.”
Cassian's face hardened.
“How many?”
Marcus checked his radio.
“Unknown.”
Another burst of gunfire exploded outside.
Cassian moved toward the window.
Dante grabbed his shoulder.
“Don't.”
A bullet punched through the glass.
Cassian ducked.
The round buried itself inside a bookshelf.
“Snipers,” Dante said.
“No,” Cassian replied.
He looked toward the darkness outside.
“Too close.”
The next explosion shook the mansion.
Marcus was thrown against the wall.
Dante hit the floor.
Cassian staggered.
Three armed men burst through the office doors.
The first fired.
Cassian dropped behind the desk.
The room became chaos.
Elena was in the east corridor when the shooting began.
She heard the first gunshot.
Then the second.
Then thirty more.
Her cleaning cart remained beside her.
She glanced toward the fallen vase.
Then toward the security camera.
Its red indicator light was off.
Elena stopped breathing.
The attack had not come through the gates.
The gates had opened.
From inside.
She ran.
Not like a servant.
Like a soldier.
She reached the corner and saw two men advancing toward Cassian's office.
They carried suppressed rifles.
Elena pulled a fire extinguisher from the wall.
She swung.
The metal cylinder smashed into the first man's neck.
He collapsed.
The second turned.
Elena was already moving.
She struck his wrist.
The rifle fell.
He grabbed her braid.
Elena drove her forehead into his nose.
He staggered.
She kicked his knee.
He dropped.
Elena picked up his weapon.
Her movements were fast, controlled, practiced.
A voice echoed through the corridor.
“Who the hell are you?”
Elena turned.
A wounded Thorne guard was staring at her.
He recognized the rifle.
Then he recognized her uniform.
His eyes widened.
“Ma'am?”
Elena raised a finger to her lips.
“Stay down.”
She entered Cassian's office.
Three attackers were dead.
Marcus was bleeding from his shoulder.
Dante had taken cover behind the bar.
Cassian crouched behind the desk with a gun in each hand.
Then he saw Elena.
His expression changed.
The housekeeper was holding an assault rifle.
Not awkwardly.
Not nervously.
Correctly.
Her stance was balanced.
Her eyes were scanning the exits.
Her finger rested outside the trigger guard.
Cassian stared.
“Elena?”
She pointed at the window.
“Three shooters.”
Marcus blinked.
“How do you know?”
“Because one is breathing.”
A shot cracked.
Elena fired once.
A figure outside dropped.
Cassian stared again.
“Where did you learn to shoot?”
“Later.”
She turned.
A flash grenade rolled through the doorway.
Elena kicked it back.
The explosion thundered in the hall.
The lights returned.
For two seconds, nobody moved.
Then Elena grabbed Cassian by his collar.
“Get away from the desk.”
He actually obeyed.
They moved.
A sniper round tore through the exact spot where Cassian's head had been.
Silence.
Cassian looked at the hole.
Then at Elena.
“What are you?”
Before she could answer, Marcus yelled.
“Southern wall!”
Elena turned.
Through the window, the fog was moving.
Not naturally.
It was being pushed inward by dozens of vehicles.
Black SUVs appeared like ghosts.
On every hood was the same silver symbol.
A wolf.
Elena's face went pale.
Cassian noticed.
“You know them.”
She stared through the glass.
“Viktor Volkov.”
Cassian's jaw tightened.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A calm voice spoke.
“Good evening, Cassian.”
Cassian looked toward Elena.
The voice continued.
“Your housekeeper won't save you twice.”
The call ended.
Cassian slowly lowered the phone.
Elena looked at him.
May you like
“They know me.”
And for the first time that night, the fear in her eyes was real.
