Chapter 50 - The Trial of Steel
"Commander," Daniel whispered, never taking his eyes off Croft. "Can you take the two men flanking the magistrate without hitting her?"
The security officer sighted along the rock ledge, assessing the wind and the distance. "I have clear line of sight on both guards. But Croft has cover behind the boathouse pillar. Once I fire, he will use the magistrate as a shield."
"He won't have time," Daniel said. He carefully passed the unconscious girl into Leo's arms, settling the two children behind a deep limestone crevice protected from incoming fire. "Leo, stay here. Guard your sister. No matter what happens, you do not come out until I call your name."
"Dad, wait—take my console," Leo whispered, pulling a small silver transmitter from the side port. "It’s the master override for the estate's automated security grid. I rerouted the foghorn and the perimeter halogen floodlights through the auxiliary breaker."
Daniel took the device, understanding Leo's strategy instantly. "Count to three."
Daniel lunged out from the rock face, thumbing the switch on the transmitter.
Across the shoreline bluffs, twelve massive maritime halogen arrays erupted in blinding white fury, pointed directly down at the water and the boathouse dock. At the exact same fraction of a second, the estate's commercial foghorn blasted a deafening, low-frequency roar that echoed across the water like an artillery shell.
The two mercenaries recoiled, their night-vision optics overloading instantly in a blinding flash of white light.
The commander fired twice. Two suppressed pops cracked beneath the roar of the foghorn, and both guards collapsed silently onto the frozen rocks.
Croft spun around, completely blinded, firing blindly into the blinding wall of light. Daniel closed the distance across the rocks at a dead sprint. He slammed into Croft with the full momentum of his body, knocking the pistol from the lawyer’s grip into the freezing lake below.
They crashed onto the ice-crusted gravel. Croft clawed violently at Daniel's face, his expensive coat tearing as they grappled in the mud. Daniel drove his elbow down into Croft’s solar plexus, wrenching the man's arm behind his back and pinning his face against the frozen earth until the lawyer gasped for air.
May you like
"The charter is certified, Croft," Daniel snarled into his ear. "Your contracts are worthless. The Vance family line is closed."
***
