Chapter 29 - The Voice from the Shadows
Gabriel instantly moved, placing himself between the table and Nora, his hand resting on the grip of his .45.
The screen of the satellite device was flashing amber.
The biometric lock hadn't been bypassed; it had been remotely overridden from an outside network.
A crisp, metallic click echoed through the tiny speaker.
"Gabriel," a voice spoke.
It wasn't Elena. It wasn't a mercenary commander.
It was an old voice. Dry, cultivated, cultured—the voice of a man who spent his life sipping forty-year-old scotch in leather-bound libraries while deciding the fates of nations.
Arthur Ashford.
Gabriel didn't answer. He stared at the glowing green frequency bars on the screen, his jaw clenched tight.
"I know you can hear me, my boy," Arthur continued, his tone conversational, almost paternal. "You were always my best security hire. Efficient. Lethal. Loyal to a fault. I suppose that was my only miscalculation: I gave you a heart, and you let a child crawl inside it."
Gabriel stepped toward the device, pressing the transmit button with his thumb. "Arthur."
A soft chuckle emanated from the speaker. *"Ah, Gabriel. Still alive. I must confess, taking down a gunship with a shotgun is extraordinary work, even for a former Tier-One operator. But you're playing a game whose rules you don't comprehend."*
"I read Julianna's letter," Gabriel said, his voice dropping into a dark, razor-sharp hiss. "I know about the audit. I know about the Romanov-Vance trust. I know you pushed Julianna into that water, and I know you told Elena to drop Nora off that balcony."
A long silence hung on the frequency. When Arthur spoke again, the warmth had vanished entirely. His voice was as cold and dead as a tombstone.
*"Julianna was sentimental. Sentimental people do not survive at this altitude of power, Gabriel. Fourteen billion dollars does not belong in the hands of a four-year-old orphan who plays with wooden blocks. It belongs to the architects of the future."*
"She's five in seven days, Arthur," Gabriel growled. "And on that day, I will walk her into the Zurich Trust office myself. And I will watch your empire tear you apart from the inside out."
*"You won't make it out of those mountains, son,"* Arthur said softly. *"Look at your radio screen. Do you see the coordinates flashing in red?"*
Gabriel glanced down. A red blinking icon appeared at the top of the interface: **SIGNAL PROXIMITY: 0.4 MILES.**
*"Did you really think the satellite radio was for communication?"* Arthur whispered, a grotesque amusement bleeding through the static. *"It’s an active thermal beacon. The heavy armor division arrived twenty minutes ago. They aren't coming to capture the girl, Gabriel. I've updated the protocol."*
Arthur paused, his breath rattling through the speaker.
*"Burn the mountain to the bedrock. Leave nothing but ash."*
The transmission clicked off.
May you like
Outside the heavy steel blast door of the bunker, the earth began to rumble.
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