Chapter 5 - The Glass Fortress
The conservatory exploded into chaos as lightning flashed across the sky.
Before Charles’s guards could pull their triggers, Daniel grabbed Beatrice and threw her behind a massive, concrete planter filled with rare orchids. He fired two precise shots into the darkness, shattering the overhead glass panels. A shower of sharp, crystalline shards rained down on the attackers, forcing them to dive for cover.
"Run, Beatrice! To the vault!" Daniel shouted, firing another volley to suppress the guards' advance.
Beatrice scrambled through the greenery, her fingers finding the hidden brass mechanism on the central stone fountain. With a heavy groan of moving stone, a small hidden panel slid open, revealing a reinforced digital safe. She began punching in her father’s encryption code, her hands shaking as bullets shattered the terracotta pots around her.
Charles’s lead guard advanced on Daniel’s position, his automatic rifle firing in short, deadly bursts. Daniel felt a sharp, burning pain slice through his upper shoulder as a bullet grazed his skin, but he didn't falter. He dropped to one knee, waited for the flash of the muzzle, and fired a single shot that neutralized the attacker instantly.
The final guard panicked, rushing toward the safe where Beatrice was extracting a sleek, silver hard drive.
"I have it, Daniel!" Beatrice cried out.
"Drop it, girl!" the guard shouted, raising his weapon toward her.
Daniel had no time to aim. He threw his empty pistol aside, lunging across the slippery, wet stone floor of the conservatory like a panther. He tackled the guard to the ground just as the weapon discharged, the bullet fracturing the glass dome above them.
They wrestled on the floor, surrounded by broken glass and crushed flowers. The guard was larger, his hands clawing at Daniel’s throat, cutting off his airway. Daniel’s vision began to blur, the pain in his shoulder flaring into a white-hot agony. He looked past the guard’s shoulder and saw Charles standing near the exit, his face twisted in rage as he realized his empire was slipping away.
"Daniel!" Beatrice screamed. She grabbed a heavy brass watering can from a nearby shelf and slammed it down onto the back of the guard’s head with all her might.
The guard went limp, collapsing onto Daniel’s chest.
Daniel pushed the heavy body off him, gasping for air, his eyes instantly finding Beatrice. She dropped the brass can, throwing herself onto her knees beside him, her tears falling onto his face as she checked his wounded shoulder.
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"You’re hurt," she sobbed, her hands staining with his blood.
"I’m fine," Daniel wheezed, forcing himself to stand up, his arm wrapping around her waist for support. He looked toward the exit, but Charles Blackwood was gone. He had fled into the storm.
