Chapter 3 - The Security Bullet
Norah pulled Declan behind the last row of crates.
Two men entered the cellar.
Flashlights swept the bottles.
One voice belonged to someone Norah recognized.
Marcus Shaw.
Head of security.
Tall.
Silver at the temples.
Always polite to staff.
He had interviewed Norah personally when she applied.
“Mr. Hayes.”
No answer.
Marcus walked deeper.
“Declan.”
Still nothing.
Another guard whispered:
“Blood trail ends upstairs.”
Marcus replied:
“He used the tunnel.”
Norah looked at Declan.
His expression did not change.
But his hand tightened around the gun she had returned to him.
Marcus knew the passage.
That did not prove betrayal.
He was one of four people who should.
Marcus continued:
“If he is alive, we need him before Vincent’s team arrives.”
Interesting.
The second guard asked:
“You think Vincent did it?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Then why are we hiding this from him?”
“Because I do not know who I trust.”
Norah glanced at Declan.
His eyes remained on Marcus.
The cellar door opened again.
A woman entered.
Vivian Hart.
Norah’s house manager.
“What are you doing here?” Marcus asked.
“Looking for Norah.”
“She is missing?”
“Since the gunshots.”
Marcus swore.
Vivian continued:
“Her phone is in the third floor corridor.”
Norah instinctively touched her apron pocket.
Empty.
She must have dropped it before entering the medical room.
Marcus said:
“Get staff into the west guest wing.”
“Already done.”
“Lock all exterior doors.”
Vivian hesitated.
“Declan?”
“Not found.”
“Dead?”
“I said not found.”
Norah studied Vivian’s voice.
Real worry.
Maybe.
In this house, everyone acted professionally.
That made sincerity harder to identify.
Declan shifted.
A wine bottle clicked.
Marcus’s flashlight snapped toward them.
“Show yourself.”
Declan raised his gun.
Norah grabbed his wrist before he fired.
“Wait.”
Marcus advanced.
“Declan?”
Declan stepped out.
Gun pointed.
Marcus immediately raised both hands.
“Jesus Christ.”
“Drop yours.”
Marcus removed his pistol with two fingers and placed it on the floor.
The second guard followed.
Vivian froze when she saw Norah covered in Declan’s blood.
“Norah.”
“Stay there.”
Declan’s voice cut through the room.
Vivian stopped.
Marcus looked at his wound.
“You need Adrian.”
“No.”
“Declan.”
“Who jammed communications?”
Marcus’s face changed.
“You know?”
“Answer.”
“Security system shows an internal override at 12:03.”
“Account?”
“Mine.”
Norah looked at Marcus.
He added immediately:
“I did not activate it.”
Declan laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Marcus looked angry.
“My credentials were cloned.”
“Convenient.”
“Check my hardware token.”
“Later.”
“You are bleeding into a wine cellar while somebody with my credentials controls the house. Later may be optimistic.”
Declan’s knees weakened.
Norah caught him.
Marcus stepped forward.
She raised the gun.
He stopped.
His eyebrows lifted.
“Where did you learn that?”
“Apparently everyone asks.”
Declan said:
“She stays with me.”
Marcus looked between them.
“Why?”
“Because right now she is the only person in the estate who has not lied to me.”
Norah almost objected.
Then decided this was not the moment to confess she once lied on her maid application about knowing how to operate industrial laundry equipment.
Vivian asked:
“Can I get medical supplies?”
“No,” Declan said.
Norah answered:
“Yes.”
Declan looked at her.
“You are not removing a bullet with gauze and personality.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Declan did not.
“We need Adrian.”
Declan shook his head.
“The medical room was breached.”
“That does not mean Adrian did it.”
“It means whoever did knew where it was.”
Marcus pointed to the wound.
“You have maybe an hour before you become too unstable to argue. We can interrogate doctors after you stop bleeding.”
Norah said:
“There is another option.”
Everyone looked at her.
“My father taught me field wound management. Not surgery. But if the bullet is shallow enough, I can stabilize until we know Adrian is safe.”
Declan stared.
“You were sixteen.”
“My father made strange parenting choices.”
Marcus said:
“There is a surgical kit in the old garage clinic.”
Declan looked at him.
“Who knows that?”
“Everybody who has worked here longer than five years.”
“Then no.”
Vivian quietly said:
“I have sealed supplies in my office.”
Norah turned.
“Why?”
“Household medical inventory.”
“Enough for wound care?”
“Yes.”
“Bring them.”
Declan said:
“Vivian stays.”
Norah noticed Vivian flinch.
“Why?”
“No one leaves.”
Marcus looked at his watch.
“Vincent will arrive in eight minutes.”
“Why?”
“I sent a distress protocol when we lost contact with your convoy.”
“You called my uncle.”
“Your car was found shot up at the east gate.”
Declan’s eyes turned cold.
“How did you know it was there?”
Marcus frowned.
“Camera system caught the crash before the jammer activated.”
“Show me.”
“No network.”
“Local recorder.”
Marcus removed a small security tablet from his jacket.
Offline footage.
East gate.
11:47 p.m.
Declan’s armored sedan swerved into frame.
Hit the stone barrier.
Driver door opened.
Declan stumbled out.
Another vehicle stopped behind him.
Black SUV.
A masked man stepped out.
Fired.
Declan fell.
Then rolled behind the sedan.
Returned fire.
The attacker retreated.
Norah leaned closer.
The shooter’s stance looked practiced.
Then another figure appeared from the passenger side.
Not masked.
Only a silhouette.
The person walked toward Declan’s car.
Reached inside.
Removed something.
Silver case.
Norah stared.
“That case was under your medical bed.”
Declan nodded.
“I took it back.”
“How?”
“The second person dropped it when I shot the first.”
Marcus froze the footage.
The second figure’s hand was visible.
Ring.
Black stone.
Silver setting.
Vivian whispered:
“Dr. Cole.”
Everyone turned.
“Adrian wears that ring,” she said.
Marcus shook his head.
“So do half the men at his alumni club.”
Vivian insisted:
“I have seen it.”
Norah looked at Declan.
“Did you know?”
“I suspected.”
“Then why did you say no doctors?”
“Because Adrian was the first person who knew I had recovered the case.”
The room became silent.
Marcus asked:
“Recovered from where?”
Declan looked at Norah.
“Your father’s bank vault.”
Her breathing stopped.
“My father did not have a bank vault.”
“He did.”
Norah whispered:
“How did you get into it?”
“I did not.”
“Then how?”
“Someone opened it three months ago using identification in your name.”
Ryan.
Her ex husband.
The fraudulent debt.
The stolen records.
Everything suddenly moved closer.
Declan continued:
“The vault was empty when my people reached it.”
“Then where did the case come from?”
“Ryan Mercer tried to sell it to me tonight.”
Norah felt the floor tilt.
“My ex husband?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Declan’s eyes moved toward Marcus.
“That is the problem.”
Marcus answered quietly.
May you like
“Ryan Mercer disappeared before the ambush.”
Continue to the next part: Norah’s missing ex husband stole access to her father’s secret vault and tried to sell Declan the silver case on the same night someone inside Hayes security attempted to kill him.
