Chapter 6 - The Five-Minute Window
Midnight in Belle Meade. The Caldwell estate was no longer a silent tomb. It was a fortress. Three black SUVs belonging to Aegis Private Security were parked in the circular driveway. Guards in tactical gear patrolled the perimeter. Ethan wasn't taking any chances.
Hidden in the treeline behind the estate, Richard and Marcus watched through night-vision binoculars. "Two men by the pool. One at the front gate. Two inside the kitchen," Marcus whispered. "He brought the heavy hitters."
"We don't need to fight them," Richard replied, adjusting a small, black transmitter box strapped to his tactical vest. "We just need to ghost them. The main router is in Ethan’s basement office. I go in. You provide overwatch and distraction."
Marcus nodded, melting into the shadows and heading toward the front of the property.
Richard waited for the patrol by the pool to turn the corner. As soon as their flashlights swept away, he vaulted the fence. He moved with lethal grace, a shadow among shadows. He didn't head for the doors or windows. He headed for the basement storm grate.
With a pry bar wrapped in a rag to muffle the sound, Richard popped the grate open. He slid feet-first into the darkness, landing silently in the mansion’s utility room.
The basement office was adjacent. Richard slipped through the doorway. The room was illuminated only by the blinking blue and green lights of massive server racks. This was Ethan's nerve center.
Richard pulled the transmitter from his vest and located the primary router. He plugged the cord into the port and tapped his earpiece. "Sarah, you’re live. Do you have the signal?"
“Signal acquired,” Sarah’s voice buzzed in his ear. “Initiating bypass. Start the clock. You have five minutes before his cybersecurity team at the main office detects the anomaly.”
Richard stood in the dark, watching the progress bar on his small device screen. Minute One. The house above him was quiet. Heavy footsteps paced the floorboards upstairs, but no one was coming down.
Minute Two. “Firewall breached,” Sarah muttered over the comms. “I’m in the mainframe. Searching for the hidden partition... Found it. The Blue Folder. Wow. This guy is a monster. He has audio files, bank records, explicit photos. He’s blackmailing half the state legislature.”
"Just download it, Sarah," Richard whispered.
Minute Three. Suddenly, the earpiece crackled violently. “Uh oh,” Sarah said, her voice tight. “Colonel, they noticed. A kill-switch program just activated from his main office. They are trying to sever the connection. I’m fighting them off, but they just triggered the physical alarms at the house.”
Above Richard, the mansion erupted. Blaring sirens pierced the quiet night. Red strobe lights flashed through the basement windows. Voices yelled from upstairs. "Breach in the basement! Go, go, go!"
Minute Four. "Sarah, progress!" Richard demanded, drawing his M1911 and aiming it at the basement door.
“Eighty percent! Keep them off me for sixty seconds!”
The basement door was kicked open. Two private security contractors rushed down the stairs, their flashlights blinding in the dark. "Drop it!" one of them yelled.
Richard didn't fire. He didn't want to kill men who were just doing their jobs, even if their boss was a monster. Instead, he shot the power conduit box on the wall. Sparks showered the stairway. The lights completely died, plunging the basement into pitch blackness.
Using his night-vision goggles, Richard moved laterally. The guards fired blindly into the dark, bullets shattering the drywall where Richard had been a second ago. Richard closed the distance, striking the first guard in the chest with the butt of his pistol, sending him tumbling back into his partner. Both men crashed down the stairs in a tangle of limbs.
Minute Five. “Download complete!” Sarah shouted. “I have everything! The folder is secure! Get out of there, Boss!”
Richard ripped the transmitter from the router. More footsteps thundered down the hallway above. He had seconds.
Outside, a massive explosion shook the ground. Marcus. The old medic had blown up one of the empty security SUVs in the front driveway, creating a massive fireball that lit up the night sky.
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The chaos provided the perfect cover. The guards in the house scrambled upstairs to respond to the explosion. Richard slipped back through the storm grate, sprinting across the lawn, over the fence, and vanishing into the Tennessee woods before the police sirens even began to wail in the distance.
They had the weapon. Now, it was time to pull the trigger.
