Chapter 7 - The Ambush at the Gate
The storm that hit Chicago on Thursday night was the worst the city had seen in five years.
Gale-force winds whipped across Lake Michigan, hurling sheets of freezing rain against the heavy stone walls of the Hart estate. Thunder crashed overhead, setting off false alarms on the perimeter fence every twenty minutes.
Down in the lower garage, Leo was beneath the chassis of Julian's armored sedan, his face covered in dark grease, a heavy torque wrench in his hand. The radio was playing soft jazz, barely audible over the roar of the rain outside the open bay door.
Suddenly, the jazz music turned to static.
Leo slid out from beneath the car on his mechanic's creeper, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm. "Vic? Is that you with the new oil filters?"
No one answered.
The lights in the garage flickered once, twice, and then went completely dark.
Leo reached for his flashlight on the workbench, but before his fingers could touch the metal, a heavy, cold hand clamped down over his mouth from behind. A second arm wrapped around his neck in a chokehold, cutting off his air instantly.
"Listen to me, kid, and listen close," a rough voice growled in his ear. "You scream, and my man upstairs cuts your sister's throat while she sleeps."
Leo froze, his heart pounding so hard he thought his ribs would snap.
Two men stepped into the faint beam of the emergency battery lights. One of them was Kovak, holding a suppressed 9mm pistol pointed directly at Leo's chest.
"Where are the master overrides for the main courtyard gates?" Kovak demanded, pressing the cold steel barrel against Leo's forehead. "Give us the code, or we bring the little blind girl down here and drop her in the waste oil tank."
Tears cut clean tracks through the grease on Leo's face. He knew who these men were. He knew that if he gave them the codes, they would kill Julian, kill Vic, and kill him and Maisie anyway. But the thought of them touching his sister made his blood run cold.
"It's... it's in the security office near the kitchen," Leo choked out, pretending to struggle for breath. "In the blue panel behind the main breaker."
"Good boy," Kovak sneered. He turned to his lieutenant. "Tie him to the lift post. Gag him tight. If he makes a sound, shoot him."
They slammed Leo against the heavy steel pillar, wrapping thick zip-ties around his wrists and ankles until the plastic bit deep into his flesh. Then they melted into the dark hallway leading up into the main house.
Leo thrashed desperately against the pillar, the heavy plastic ties slicing into his wrists, drawing blood. He couldn't scream through the thick duct tape over his mouth.
He looked up at the ceiling above him.
Directly above the garage was the library.
And in the library, sleeping on the Persian rug, was Cyrus.
Leo braced his heavy mechanic's boots against the steel lift frame, hauled his knees to his chest, and kicked the heavy metal workbench with all his strength.
May you like
BOOM.
The heavy steel table crashed onto its side, sending hundreds of iron tools, sockets, and heavy car batteries smashing onto the concrete floor in a thunderous cascade of iron noise.
