Chapter 7 - The Hunt in the Dark
Richard’s eyes went wide. "Julian, kill him!"
Julian drew a heavy automatic pistol from his shoulder holster and fired two rapid shots.
The bullets smashed into the wooden banister near my head, spraying sharp oak splinters across my face. I ducked, firing one shot back down the stairwell to force them to take cover, then turned and ran down the upper hallway toward the back stairs.
"Get the ledger!" Richard screamed from below. "If he gets out of the house with those papers, we’re done!"
I sprinted through the dark upper corridor, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The back staircase led down into the kitchen service area. I took the stairs three at a time, sliding on the smooth hardwood as I hit the ground floor.
I needed to reach my car in the driveway, but as I burst through the kitchen doors, the front gate alarms began to blare. Julian had activated the estate lockdown system.
Heavy steel security shutters were slowly sliding down over every window and door on the ground floor, sealing the house like a fortress.
"You can't get out, Matthew!" Julian’s voice echoed through the dark house, amplified by the intercom system. "The perimeter doors are locked from the master panel! You're trapped in here with us!"
I ducked behind the large granite island in the kitchen—the very spot where my mother had been lying hours earlier. The room was illuminated only by the red emergency lights flashing along the baseboards.
I checked the magazine of Cassandra’s gun. Two rounds left.
I heard footsteps approaching from the dining room. Julian was moving quickly, confident in his firepower. Richard was likely heading for the master panel in the study to release Cassandra.
I looked at the kitchen pantry—the high cabinet where Cassandra kept her poisons. Next to it was the industrial gas line for the commercial stove.
May you like
An old compliance trick from an audit I did on a chemical plant three years ago flashed through my mind.
I reached up, unhooked the flexible brass gas line behind the stove, and opened the main valve full force. The sharp, pungent smell of natural gas began to fill the kitchen instantly.
