Chapter 6: The Groomsmen's Nightmare
The heavy wooden door of the basement study shook violently as a powerful blow struck the frame from the corridor side. Julian let out a sharp, terrified shriek, scrambling backward on his hands and knees until his back hit the leather sofa.
"They're inside! Dad, they're going to kill us!" Julian screamed, his voice cracking with pure panic. "Give them the folder! Give them whatever they want!"
"Shut up, Julian!" Mayor Miller hissed, his face completely pale as he looked around the small room for a weapon, his hands wrapping around a heavy brass desk lamp.
Frank Vance didn't move. He stood behind the desk, his expression entirely calm, his fingers tapping a fast rhythm on his communication mic. "Team Alpha, secure the elevator shaft. The syndicate has four operators in the basement corridor. Switch the venue power grid to manual override."
Instantly, every single light in the basement study exploded into sparks. The ceiling lamps went black, the ventilation system died, and the entire room was plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness, illuminated only by the faint red emergency lights glowing in the corner of the security monitors.
From the hallway outside, a deep, muffled boom rocked the concrete walls. The syndicate operators had just used a breaching charge on the main security access door.
"Frank... Frank, where are you?!" the Mayor called out into the dark, waving his brass lamp blindly in the air. "Don't leave us in here!"
"Stay down, Thomas," Frank’s voice answered from the darkness, sounding perfectly smooth and steady. "If you move, you'll block my line of sight."
Through his advanced military training, Frank didn't need the lights. He reached beneath the mahogany desk, pulling open a hidden compartment built into the wooden frame. He pulled out a sleek, matte-black suppressed pistol, checking the magazine with a sharp, metallic click that sounded like an executioner's signal in the quiet room.
BOOM!
The heavy wooden door of the study was violently blown off its hinges by a secondary breaching charge, filling the room with thick white smoke and blue fire. Two syndicate operators rushed into the doorway, their weapon-mounted flashlights cutting through the smoke in sharp, chaotic lines of white light.
"Clear the desk! Find the Mayor!" one of the attackers barked through his mask, his accent heavy and foreign.
Before the mercenary could swing his rifle toward the leather chair, Frank moved like a ghost through the fog. He stepped inside the first operator’s guard, his left hand grabbing the barrel of the automatic rifle and forcing it upward just as a burst of bullets fired harmlessly into the concrete ceiling.
With a brutal, professional twist, Frank drove his right elbow directly into the operator's throat, breaking his windpipe. As the man collapsed, Frank grabbed the rifle from his hands, spun his body, and fired a precise, three-round burst into the chest of the second operator standing in the doorway. The body armor absorbed the force, but the sheer kinetic impact knocked the man backward out into the hallway, neutralizing him instantly.
"Two down," Frank whispered into his mic. "Moving to the corridor."
Julian sat on the carpet, his hands covering his ears, his body shaking violently as he wept in pure terror among the shattered splinters of the door. He looked through the smoke, expecting to see the old guard dead on the floor. Instead, he saw Frank Vance stepping over the unconscious bodies of two professional killers, his suppressed pistol held low against his thigh, looking like a god of war.
"Dad..." Julian whimpered, his voice barely a whisper. "Who... who the hell is this guy?"
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Warden Thomas Miller stood by the wall, the brass lamp dropping from his fingers, clattering loudly against the floorboards. "He is the man who created the shadow division, Julian. And we just invited him to our wedding."
Frank didn't look back at them. He stepped out into the dark hallway, the white fog from the smoke grenades rolling around his combat boots as he prepared to clear the remaining wolves from his perimeter.
