Chapter 961
Skye grabbed Parker and pulled him close. Liam seized Julian, throwing the older man’s arm over his shoulder and practically carrying him. They dove into the emergency maintenance tunnel Julian had shown them earlier.
Behind them, chaos erupted. Gunfire sprayed blindly into the foam, bullets ricocheting off unseen surfaces.
“They’re blocking the main exit!” Julian gasped, his legs dragging beneath him.
“We go to the boathouse,” Alistair said, covering their rear. “We take the water.”
They sprinted through the damp tunnel, the sound of boots thundering behind them. Skye glanced back — Liam was nearly carrying Julian now, the Vance heir’s face grey with pain and exhaustion.
“Did he really destroy it?” Parker panted. “The only copy?”
“Of course not,” Skye said, pulling a small USB drive from her pocket. “You backed it up to the cloud the second you accessed it. Alistair crushed the original to buy us a distraction.”
“We’re insane,” Parker grinned despite everything.
𝘋𝘰𝘸𝗇𝘭о𝖺𝗱a𝗯𝗅𝗲 PD𝖥𝘴 о𝘯 ga𝗅𝗇о𝘷el𝘀.c𝗼m
They burst into the cool night air at the estate’s private dock. A speedboat sat waiting, bobbing gently against the pilings.
“Get in!” Liam shoved Julian toward the gunwale.
As they scrambled aboard, a single shot cracked from the tunnel entrance.
Julian cried out and fell forward onto the dock, blood blooming rapidly across his thigh.
“Julian!” Skye screamed.
“Go!” Julian yelled, clutching his leg, his face contorted with pain. He tried to crawl toward the boat and collapsed. “I’ll hold them off!”
“No!” Alistair reached for him.
But Dominic’s men were already pouring from the tunnel. Bullets tore into the dock, sending splinters flying in every direction.
“We can’t get to him!” Liam roared, shoving Alistair into the boat and gunning the engine. “We go now or we all die!”
The boat surged away from the dock. Skye watched in horror as Dominic Thorne walked up to Julian, who lay wounded and exposed on the bloodied wood. Dominic didn’t shoot him. He grabbed Julian by the hair and dragged him back into the darkness of the tunnel.
“He has Julian,” Skye whispered, tears stinging her eyes.
“He won’t kill him,” Alistair said, his voice like ice. “He knows we have a backup. Julian is his leverage now.”
The escape from the Vance Estate was a silent, grim affair. They docked the boat at a derelict pier in the old harbor, miles from any prying eyes, the only sounds the lapping of waves and the groan of weathered wood.
“We need a plan,” Skye said, shivering in the sea breeze. “Dominic has Julian. He’ll use him to get the drive back.”
“He’ll contact us,” Alistair said, checking his weapon, his face grim. “He’s desperate. Without that drive, The Administrator will eliminate him without a second thought.”
Skye’s phone buzzed. An encrypted message flashed across the screen.
Sender: Unknown. Message: You broke your toy. Now I broke yours. Attached: A live video feed.
Skye opened it, her heart hammering. The video showed a small, dark room. Julian was tied to a chair, his head lolling, his face bruised and swollen.
.
.