Chapter 4 - Blood and Brass
Julian’s military reflexes saved his life, but only barely.
He ducked sideways, the heavy brass fixture grazing his temple, ripping skin and slicing his ear open. Blood sprayed across the white staircase wall. The gun discharged with a muted *phut-phut*, the bullets burying themselves harmlessly into the ceiling plaster above Daniel’s head.
Before Julian could realign his sights, Daniel launched himself off the top landing.
He didn't take the stairs. He leapt through the air, tackling Julian around the waist with the force of an enraged bull.
Both men tumbled down the grand staircase in a violent, bone-crunching tangle. Knees and elbows struck polished hardwood treads. Daniel felt a rib crack as his back slammed against the heavy banister, but he refused to release his grip. He drove his thumbs into Julian’s windpipe as they crashed onto the cold marble of the foyer floor.
The pistol slipped from Julian’s fingers, skittering across the marble and disappearing under the grand piano.
Julian roared in pain and rage, his combat training taking over. He drove a brutal knee into Daniel’s injured ribs. The breath exploded from Daniel’s lungs in a white-hot flash of agony, forcing him to roll off.
Julian scrambled to his feet, pulling a six-inch combat knife from the sheath on his tactical vest. The black serrated blade caught the crimson emergency light.
“You’re an amateur, Mercer!” Julian spat, wiping blood from his mangled ear with his shoulder. “You sit in high-rise offices while men like me bleed for a living!”
Julian lunged, executing a swift, lethal slash aimed at Daniel’s throat.
Daniel threw himself backward. The tip of the blade sliced through his undershirt, opening a shallow red line across his chest. Pain flared, but Daniel used the momentum to grab the base of an iron floor lamp standing beside him.
He swung the heavy iron base like a baseball bat.
*CLANG!*
The iron struck Julian’s forearm with a sickening snap. The knife clattered to the marble. Julian howled, staggering back, his left arm dangling uselessly at an unnatural angle.
Daniel didn't hesitate. He stepped inside Julian’s guard and drove a savage right hook into the security chief’s shattered temple, followed by a vicious knee into his solar plexus. Julian dropped to his knees, gasping for air, the fight completely knocked out of him.
Daniel stood over him, chest heaving, blood dripping from his knuckles onto the white marble floor. He snatched Julian’s dropped knife from the floor, pressing the cold steel against the man's throat.
“The override key,” Daniel growled, his voice a demon’s rasp. “Where is the master bypass for the lockdown?”
Julian coughed up blood, a broken grin spreading across his crimson teeth. “Too… too late, Mercer. She already lit the match.”
From the basement beneath their feet came a muffled *WHOOSH*.
The floorboards trembled. A wave of heat rolled up through the central floor vents, accompanied by thick, black, billowing smoke smelling of gasoline.
The laundry chute.
*Noah and Lily.*
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Daniel dropped Julian like a sack of garbage and sprinted toward the basement door.
***
