Chapter 7 - The Boardroom Ambush
The smoke in the collapsed tunnel was thick with sulfur and pulverized limestone.
Sebastian wiped blood from a shallow cut on his temple, his vision clearing as his ears stopped ringing.
Dominic was already at the secondary iron grate at the rear of the wine cellar, using the heavy crowbar to lever the rusty hinges free.
"There is a coal chute behind the pantry that leads to the servants' terrace," Dominic said, not waiting for permission.
"If your security man is still breathing, that’s where he will be pulling back."
Sebastian didn't argue.
Survival took precedence over twenty years of buried hatred.
They crawled through the narrow masonry passage, pushing through cobwebs and damp soot until they emerged into the rain behind the carriage house.
The scene in the driveway was a slaughterhouse.
The black Mercedes Dominic had arrived in was ablaze, black smoke rolling into the night sky.
Cole was crouched behind the rear axle of the armored Yukon, returning controlled bursts of fire toward the hemlock trees.
Three masked operatives in black tactical gear were advancing across the lawn with suppressive fire.
A fourth operative had pried open the passenger door of the Yukon and was dragging Lily screaming across the wet gravel.
Sebastian’s blood turned to liquid fire.
He raised his sidearm, tracking the operative holding Lily, but the man had locked his forearm around her throat as a human shield.
Beside Sebastian, Dominic didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second.
Dominic raised his submachine gun, adjusted his stance, and fired a three-round burst through the torrential rain.
The first round took the operative through the side of the knee, dropping him instantly onto the rocks.
The second round shattered the operative's collarbone as he fell, freeing Lily from his grip.
"Move!" Sebastian roared, sprinting across the open gravel toward the fallen girl.
Sebastian fired three double-taps into the two advancing shooters in the tree line, forcing them back behind the stone balustrade.
Cole lunged forward, catching Lily by the collar of her evening coat and shoving her beneath the armored chassis of the Yukon.
"We’re surrounded by eight hostiles, boss!" Cole yelled, blood streaming down the left side of his tactical vest.
"They have night-vision optics and coordinated tactical comms!"
Dominic slid into the gravel beside Cole, feeding a fresh magazine into his weapon with mechanical efficiency.
"They're mercenaries from the Black Vanguard firm out of Zurich," Dominic stated coldly.
"They work exclusively for Marcus Sterling."
Sebastian reloaded his sidearm, the cold rain plastering his hair against his forehead.
"Marcus Sterling is the vice chairman of my board of directors," Sebastian said, his voice dropping into pure ice.
"He has been my father's closest business partner for forty years."
"He was your father's banker," Dominic corrected, firing another burst toward the trees that elicited a scream from a wounded gunman.
"And he is the majority shareholder of Acheron Capital."
"He played both of us, Sebastian."
"He fed me the confidential files to make me strike at your holdings, and he used my arrival as an excuse to liquidate the Kane bloodline entirely."
"If both heirs die tonight, Marcus Sterling’s holding company exercises the posthumous conservatorship clause in the Kane charter."
"He gets the shipping lanes, the defense patents, and the four billion in offshore treasuries."
"Not while I have breath in my lungs," Sebastian whispered, his knuckles turning white around his weapon.
"Cole, can this vehicle move?"
"Front suspension is shot, but the drivetrain will clear the front gate," Cole answered, spitting blood onto the gravel.
"Get her in," Sebastian commanded, nodding toward Lily.
Dominic grabbed Lily’s uninjured arm, pulling her gently up from the wet mud.
For a brief second, Lily looked at Dominic’s face, her eyes filled with a mixture of terror and ancient sibling familiarity.
"Dominic..." she sobbed, clutching his soaked sleeve.
"Get in the truck, little sparrow," Dominic said, his rough voice softening by a fraction of a degree.
"I haven't spent thirty-four years crawling out of the grave just to watch you die in our father’s mud."
Dominic shoved her into the rear cabin, then climbed in beside her.
Sebastian took the front passenger seat while Cole engaged the four-wheel-drive differential.
The Yukon leaped forward with a violent roar of its supercharged engine, smashing through the remaining iron gate and careening out onto the mountain road.
Behind them, two black tactical SUVs pulled out of the timber, their high beams piercing the downpour as they initiated pursuit.
"Hold on!" Cole yelled, throwing the heavy SUV into a four-wheel drift around the first hairpin turn.
Bullets shattered the rear window glass, peppering the armored headrests with lead.
Dominic kicked out the remaining glass shards with his combat boot, leaning his upper torso out into the freezing wind with his submachine gun.
He fired two controlled bursts into the front radiator and steering column of the lead pursuit vehicle.
The SUV veered violently off the asphalt, rolling three times through the guardrail before plummeting into the black gorge below.
A massive fireball illuminated the mountainside, throwing orange shadows across the road.
The second pursuit vehicle aborted the chase, braking hard and turning back into the trees.
Silence returned to the cabin, save for the ragged breathing of four wounded survivors and the steady beat of the rain.
Sebastian looked back over his seat at his mirror image.
Dominic’s face was smeared with carbon soot and grease, his coat torn open, but his eyes burned with ruthless clarity.
"The emergency board meeting convenes at nine o'clock this morning at Kane Tower," Sebastian said quietly.
"Marcus Sterling called the session to declare me incapacitated following the gala incident."
Dominic lowered his smoking weapon and wiped the rain from his chin.
May you like
"Then we don't go to the hospital, brother," Dominic replied, a cold, predatory smile curling his lips.
"We walk into that boardroom together and show the old man what happens when the Kane family unites to collect a debt."
