Chapter 5 - The Fall of Mercer Tower
“Get them into the safe room!” Rowan ordered, springing into action.
He grabbed Lily, while Marcus hoisted Clara from the bed. They moved quickly through the shadows of the master suite toward a concealed reinforced panel behind the bookshelf.
Before Marcus could hit the keypad entry code, the heavy double doors of the penthouse burst open with an explosive blast. Smoke and blinding flashbang light consumed the living room.
Three heavily armed operatives wearing night-vision gear rushed through the smoke.
Marcus fired three quick shots, taking down the lead tactical operative, but a volley of return fire forced him behind the marble kitchen island. “Rowan! Take the girl and Clara! I’ll hold the choke point!”
Rowan didn't argue. He shoved Clara and Lily into the narrow secondary elevator shaft—a private emergency lift built exclusively for the CEO that operated on a completely separate mechanical pulley system.
“Push the red button at the bottom, Clara,” Rowan said hurriedly, pressing the manual release lever. “It goes straight to the underground parking bay. Marcus’s backup team is waiting.”
“Mr. Mercer, what about you?” Clara cried, clutching Lily tightly.
“I’m finishing this,” Rowan said. He looked down at Lily. “Remember my promise, kiddo. I don't break them.”
He slammed the manual door shut and cut the primary cable brake, sending the lift plunging safely down the secure shaft just as two operatives kicked open the bedroom door.
Rowan ducked as bullets shattered the floor-to-ceiling glass behind him, sending thousands of sparkling shards falling into the rainy night sky. He rolled across the carpet, picked up a fallen guard’s stun baton, and struck the first operative in the neck, dropping him instantly.
He lunged for the second man, wrestling him toward the shattered window. The wind howled through the open penthouse as the two men fought on the precipice of a nine-hundred-foot drop.
“Vance sent you to clean up?” Rowan snarled, pinning the operative’s arm against the broken frame.
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“Vance... is already on a flight out of the country,” the operative gasped, grinning through a bloody smile. “This was just a distraction, Mercer... to make sure you were looking at the sky while he took what’s in the basement.”
Rowan froze. The basement level wasn't just parking. It was where Mercer Global housed its primary server core—and where Clara had hidden the master cryptographic key inside her old janitorial locker years ago.
