Chapter 6 - THE INSIDE MAN
The clock ticked toward ten p.m. Outside, the snow was falling in heavy, blinding sheets, blanketing Pittsburgh in white.
Marcus was briefing his men in the hallway. Elliot was in his office, securing the decrypted files for the failsafe protocol, when the building's alarms suddenly began to blare. A harsh, mechanical siren pierced the air, and the emergency red lighting bathed the penthouse in a sinister glow.
“Intruder alert!” Marcus shouted, bursting into the room. “We have a breach on the ground floor. They bypassed the biometric locks.”
“How is that possible?” Elliot demanded, drawing a specialized concealed firearm from his desk drawer—a habit from his ruthless early days in corporate sabotage.
“Someone let them in,” Marcus growled. “An inside job.”
Elliot’s mind raced. David. The COO had the security clearances, the motive to oust Elliot, and the lack of moral spine. David must have struck a deal with Silas—sell out the billionaire to save the company’s stock and take the CEO chair.
“They cut the power to the elevators,” Marcus reported, checking his radio. “They’re coming up the emergency stairwells. Heavily armed. They aren’t here to negotiate, Elliot. Silas sent a hit squad to get the drive and the girls.”
“Barricade the doors,” Elliot ordered. He rushed into the living room. Mrs. Vance had already pushed the heavy oak dining table against the reinforced double doors. She was holding Rosie, her face pale but resolute.
Maddie was standing by the window, staring at the flashing red lights.
“Maddie, come here,” Elliot commanded.
He guided her into the master bedroom and opened a hidden panel in the wall, revealing a reinforced panic room. “Get inside with Mrs. Vance and Rosie. Do not come out until I open the door. Do you understand?”
“Are you going to fight them?” Maddie asked, her voice trembling.
“I’m going to handle them,” Elliot said, forcing a reassuring smile. He kissed her forehead—a completely unconscious, fatherly gesture that surprised him as much as it did her.
As the steel door of the panic room slid shut, sealing the girls away safely, the heavy oak doors of the penthouse exploded inward with a deafening crash.
Five men clad in black tactical gear poured into the living room, assault rifles raised. Leading them was a man with a vicious scar across his jaw—Silas’s top enforcer.
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“Where’s the drive, Whitaker?” the enforcer barked, his gun aimed directly at Elliot’s chest.
Elliot stood by his desk, his posture relaxed, his concealed weapon hidden behind his back. “You gentlemen are making a terrible mess of my carpet.”
