Chapter 5 - The Ambush
Emily froze, her heart leaping into her throat. "Daniel... someone is outside."
Daniel immediately grabbed the steel box, shoving the letters and birth certificate inside, standing up and pulling Emily behind him. "Stay behind me."
Downstairs, the front door lock clicked. The heavy oak door swung open with a loud creak, followed by the heavy, deliberate footsteps of two men entering the house.
"Search the place," a harsh, gravelly voice ordered from the living room. "The old woman’s lawyer said she kept the original estate documents in a safe in her bedroom. Find them and burn them before Whitmore’s legal team gets wind of it."
"What about the girl?" a second voice asked. "The nurse?"
"If she's here, make it look like a home invasion," the first voice sneered coldly. "Richard Whitmore doesn't want any loose ends."
In the upstairs bedroom, Emily pressed her hand over her mouth to suppress a scream. Richard Whitmore. Daniel’s uncle—the man who had taken over Whitmore Infrastructure after Arthur Whitmore’s death.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed into slits of ice. He looked around the small bedroom, spotting a heavy iron floor lamp in the corner. He quietly stepped over, unplugged it, and unscrewed the heavy base, wielding the solid iron pole like a weapon.
"They don't know we're upstairs," Daniel whispered into Emily’s ear, his voice deadly calm. "When I move, you run down the back fire escape into the alley and get to the SUV. The driver, Marcus, is armed. Tell him 'Code Black'."
"No! I'm not leaving you!" Emily whispered back fiercely.
"Emily, listen to me!" Daniel commanded softly, grabbing her face gently. "You are my family. You are David’s daughter. I lost my mother, I lost my father... I am not losing you. Run!"
Before Emily could protest, the footsteps reached the top of the wooden stairs.
A tall man in a dark leather jacket stepped into the hallway, holding a silenced pistol in his gloved hand.
Daniel didn't give him a second to react.
With a fierce roar, Daniel lunged out of the bedroom, swinging the heavy iron pole with brutal precision. The metal struck the gunman square across the wrist, sending the silenced pistol clattering down the stairwell.
Before the gunman could recover, Daniel drove his shoulder into the man's chest, slamming him violently against the hallway wall, following up with a crushing right hook to the man's jaw that knocked him unconscious instantly.
"Upstairs!" the second man yelled from below, drawing a gun as he sprinted up the stairs.
"GO, EMILY! NOW!" Daniel roared, turning to face the second attacker.
Emily bolted for the small back window, throwing it open, scrambling onto the ice-covered fire escape just as a gunshot echoed through the house—POW!
"DANIEL!" Emily screamed, pausing on the metal stairs.
Inside the hallway, Daniel tackled the second gunman, wrestling for the firearm on the slick floorboards. The gun discharged a second time, shattering a framed picture on the wall. Daniel grunted, driving his elbow into the attacker’s throat, twisting the gun out of his grip, and slamming the butt of the weapon across the man's temple until he went limp.
Breathing heavily, his suit jacket torn, blood dripping from a small cut on his knuckle, Daniel scrambled to his feet. He grabbed the steel box, leaped through the open back window onto the fire escape, and took Emily’s hand.
"I'm here!" Daniel panted, ushering her down the icy stairs into the dark alley below. "Run!"
They sprinted down the narrow alley, bursting onto the street where the black SUV was parked.
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"Marcus!" Daniel shouted. "Code Black! Drive!"
The driver threw open the doors, pulling out a concealed weapon as Daniel and Emily dove into the back seat. The SUV roared to life, its tires screeching against the ice as it launched down the street, leaving the dark house and the unconscious intruders behind in the snow.
