PART 6: Fire on the Lake Forest Estate
PART 6: Fire on the Lake Forest Estate
Tactical precision decimates arrogant intruders.
The southern gardens of the Lake Forest estate were pitch black, illuminated only by the pale moonlight cutting through the winter mist and the flashing red emergency beacons.
Four operatives clad in black tactical gear and night-vision goggles moved with practiced, lethal efficiency across the lawn, heading directly toward the private family quarters where Oliver was sleeping.
They thought they were dealing with a distracted, grief-stricken father who had lost his edge.
They were catastrophically mistaken.
I crouched behind the stone balustrade of the terrace, my breathing slow and controlled, while Vance and a four-man tactical team flanked the intruders from the east wing.
Emma knelt right beside me, holding a secure thermal monitoring tablet that tracked every heat signature moving across the property grounds.
“Three are moving toward the terrace sliding doors,” Emma whispered, her fingers flying across the screen with calm, mathematical precision. “The fourth is hanging back near the greenhouse as spotter.”
“Good girl,” I murmured, keeping my eyes locked on the lead operative. “Vance, take the spotter. On my mark.”
Three.
Two.
One.
Mark.
The night erupted into a deafening roar of suppressed gunfire.
Vance’s team dropped the spotter before he could raise his weapon, while I stood up from the balustrade, firing two precise rounds that shattered the glass near the leading operative and sent him diving headfirst into the rosebushes.
The remaining two intruders panicked, realizing they had walked straight into a kill zone disguised as a wealthy estate.
They tried to retreat toward the treeline, but the automated security turrets dropped from their housing along the roofline, projecting blinding halogen spotlights and locking laser targeting grids onto their chests.
“Drop your weapons!” I roared, stepping out onto the frost-covered grass, my voice echoing like thunder across the gardens. “Drop them now, or you don't leave this property alive!”
The two men dropped their rifles instantly, raising their hands in surrender as my enforcers swarmed in from the shadows, pinning them to the frozen earth.
The entire firefight lasted less than forty seconds.
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The North Side syndicate had sent a hit squad to test my vow.
Instead, they had just delivered four prisoners directly into my hands, proving to the entire underworld that the Hale empire was stronger, sharper, and more dangerous than ever before.
