Chapter 45
CHAPTER 45 — THE OLD MONARCH'S PLAY
Claire dropped to the floor, rolling behind a reinforced steel luggage cart as a hail of heavy-caliber bullets pulverized the concrete walls behind her. Splinters of granite sliced her shoulder, but she didn't stop moving.
From the ceiling above the elevator bay, a heavy iron grate exploded downward. Alexander dropped through the opening, firing a high-intensity EMP rifle directly into the automated turrets. The lasers flickered and died, the heavy guns groaning as their internal wiring melted.
"Go!" Alexander shouted, coughing violently as his heart monitor let out a warning beep. "I’ll hold the elevator bay. Anna is covering the security core. Get our girl!"
Claire ran past him, plunging into the dark, emergency-lit corridors of the sub-level. She reached the glass door of the sterile room, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Inside, Lily was standing against the wall, clutching the red shoe. But she wasn't alone.
Victoria Whitmore sat in a leather armchair in the corner of the room, calmly sipping a glass of dark wine, a gold-plated revolver resting on her lap.
"You've grown quite formidable, Claire," Victoria said, not even looking up as Claire breached the room, her gun aimed directly at her grandmother's forehead. "But you are still playing a game that ended fifty years ago. Julian and his father think they are going to reset the banking grid. They don't know that the terminal downstairs doesn't connect to Zurich."
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Claire kept her weapon steady. "I don't care about your banks, Victoria. Stand up and step away from my daughter."
"The terminal connects to the Vanguard Black Budget," Victoria continued, her voice chillingly indifferent. "A secondary fund that finances every private black-ops sector in North America. If Lily touches that screen, she doesn't save the Vance family. She triggers a global liquidation event that will brand you, Alexander, and this child as international terrorists forever. There will be no country on earth that will grant you asylum."
