Chapter 69 - The Glass Bastion of Cape Elizabeth
The private freight line terminated deep inside the granite cliffside beneath the Cape Elizabeth estate.
Smoke billowed through the concrete loading terminal as Elena walked out of the derailed rear car. In her hands, she held an abandoned tactical shotgun, its barrel smoking. Julian limped behind her, clutching a captured submachine gun, his eyes wide as he looked at the four dead contractors lying sprawled across the tracks.
Elena hadn't hesitated. The moment the train hit the coastal siding, she had severed her bindings, ambushed the car guard, pulled the emergency brake line, and moved through the security detachment with the cold, ruthless precision of an executioner.
"Elena, look," Julian gasped, pointing toward the heavy blast elevator at the end of the platform.
The digital floor indicator was climbing toward the upper residence: **LEVEL 4 — MAIN CLIFFSIDE PAVILION.**
"He took her up," Elena said, her voice completely dead of emotion, running toward the emergency stairwell.
"Elena, wait!" Julian caught her arm. "The Citadel is a fortress. The upper pavilion is surrounded by reinforced ballistic glass. Alistair has an automated defense grid linked to his biometric console. If you walk into that hall without an override, the sentry turrets will shred you before you reach the nursery!"
"Then give me the override!"
"There is no code," Julian said, his breathing ragged. "The only override is Victoria’s master keycard. He always kept her on the perimeter loop."
Elena stopped on the iron stairs. She turned her head toward the reinforced baggage car at the end of the train platform, where the sound of frantic, muffled pounding was echoing from the heavy hatch.
Elena walked over to the door, racked the shotgun, and blew the lock mechanism apart with three deafening slugs.
The heavy steel door swung open.
Victoria Montgomery tumbled out onto the concrete, gasping for breath, her clothes torn, her eyes wild with terror. She looked up and found herself staring down the smoking twin barrels of Elena’s weapon.
"Elena..." Victoria croaked, holding up her hands. "He was going to kill me. Alistair was going to throw me off the cliffs!"
Elena stepped forward, driving the muzzle of the shotgun into the soft hollow between Victoria’s collarbones, forcing the matriarch down onto her knees.
"Give me the keycard," Elena said softly.
"I... I can help you," Victoria stammered, trembling uncontrollably. "I know the bypass codes. I know where the offshore servers are. If we take him down together, we split the trust! Half a billion dollars, Elena! You can have whatever you want!"
Elena reached down with one hand, ripped the gold chain and biometric keycard from Victoria's neck, and shoved her backward into the dirt.
May you like
"I don't want your money, Victoria," Elena said, her voice chillingly calm. "I came for my daughter. And when I have her... you and I are going to have a conversation by the water."
***
