Chapter 14 - THE PRISON CELL VISITOR
The realization hit Daniel like a locomotive. The fall from the balcony had never been an impulse of sudden insanity or a desperate attempt to cover up Grace’s murder. It had been an execution order. Evelyn had pushed her seven-year-old granddaughter into empty air to trigger an inheritance clause that would transfer the estate to the surviving next of kin—herself and the shadow syndicate backing her.
"You're a monster," Daniel snarled, trembling with absolute fury. "You tried to murder an innocent child for money!"
"Not for money, Daniel. For survival," Evelyn hissed, her eyes wild with terror. "Julian doesn't leave loose ends. If I didn't deliver the cipher, he was going to skin me alive. Do you think four concrete walls can protect me? Do you think your little toy school can protect Lily?"
Suddenly, the fluorescent lights overhead flickered violently and died. The emergency backup generators hummed to life, bathing the corridor in a harsh, blood-red luminescence.
A loud siren began to wail across the facility. Over the intercom, a guard shouted through heavy static: *"Code Black! Perimeter breach in Sector Four! All personnel report to—"*
The guard’s voice was cut short by the sharp, rhythmic crackle of silenced automatic gunfire.
"He's here," Evelyn whispered, her face draining of color. "Julian isn't coming for me. He’s tying off the loose ends."
Daniel lunged backward as the heavy steel doors at the end of the corridor blew inward with a thunderous detonation. Smoke and pulverized drywall flooded the hallway. Out of the smoke stepped three men in tactical gear, their faces hidden behind ballistic masks, rifles held at high-ready.
The center operative raised a handgun fitted with a suppressor. He didn't look at Daniel. He aimed squarely through the observation glass at Evelyn.
*Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.*
Three rounds spider-webbed the reinforced glass, puncturing through Evelyn’s chest. The old matriarch slumped forward against the steel table, her eyes wide, blood pooling around her orange jumpsuit.
May you like
Daniel dove behind the concrete partition as the operative turned the weapon toward him.
***
