Chapter 3 - Shadows in the Snow
The main floor of Blackwood Manor turned into a dark, freezing labyrinth as the storm blew through the shattered front entrance. Marcus and his two mercenary accomplices stepped over the debris, their boots clicking against the marble floor.
"Find them!" Marcus’s voice echoed through the high-ceilinged foyer. "Check the rooms! Destroy any digital backups you find in his office!"
From the dark mezzanine above, Nathan observed through night-vision goggles. He knew every inch of his estate—every hidden passageway, every structural bypass. He wasn't a soldier, but he understood human anatomy and spatial leverage better than anyone.
Using the manor’s automated fire-suppression system, Nathan manually triggered the high-pressure carbon dioxide valves in the east wing hallway. A thick, icy cloud of gas instantly flooded the corridor, dropping the temperature to sub-zero levels within seconds and displacing the oxygen.
One of the mercenaries began coughing violently, disoriented as his thermal goggles fogged up entirely. Nathan dropped silently behind him, using a pressurized medical sedative dart to instantly neutralize the intruder before dragging him into a side storage room.
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One down. Two to go.
Down in the vault, the warning lights flickered red. Marcus’s remaining man had found the secondary power conduit and severed the main line, forcing the house onto emergency battery backup. Time was running out; the vault’s environmental control needed full power to keep the infants' body temperatures stable.
