Chapter 4 - Midnight in the Carriage HouseThe moon was completely obscured by thick, rolling clouds coming off Lake Michigan, plunging the Vescari estate into a deep, velvety darkness.
I crouched behind a dense row of boxwood hedges twenty yards from the north carriage house, adjusting the snug fit of the dark tactical turtleneck Julian had provided. The small wireless earpiece hummed softly in my left ear.
“Status report, Maya,” Julian’s low, gravelly voice murmured directly into my ear. He was stationed in his study, monitoring the estate’s security feeds through a mirrored tablet.
“I’m at the north entrance,” I whispered back, my eyes scanning the heavy iron-reinforced wooden doors of the carriage house. “Two guards are patrolling the perimeter, moving clockwise. They’ll clear the corner in ten seconds.”
“Move on my mark... three, two, one—go.”
I sprinted across the gravel path, moving with the silent, low-to-the-ground agility I had practiced during my lifeguard training and covert urban exploration. I reached the recessed stone alcove of the door just as the guards rounded the opposite corner.
Pulling the keycard from my pocket, I swiped it through the hidden biometric scanner concealed behind a decorative iron scrollwork panel.
Click.
The heavy electromagnetic lock released with a soft, satisfying thud. I slipped inside the dark interior, pulling the heavy door shut behind me just as heavy footsteps crunched on the gravel outside.
The carriage house smelled of old paper, dust, and ozone from server racks. Using the faint glow of my encrypted smartphone screen, I navigated past rows of filing cabinets and encrypted computer terminals until I reached a heavy steel staircase leading down into the subterranean basement level.
“Maya,” Julian’s voice crackled in my ear, sounding sharper now. “Victoria just left the dining hall early. She’s heading toward the north gardens. You’ve got maybe three minutes before she reaches the carriage house.”
“I’m already descending,” I whispered, hurrying down the metal steps into the damp darkness below.
The basement was divided into a series of secure holding cells behind reinforced glass partitions. Most of them were empty, dusty, and abandoned.
Then I heard it.
A faint, rattling cough coming from the very last cell at the end of the hall.
I broke into a run, sliding to a halt in front of the reinforced glass door. Inside, slumped against a concrete wall with his hands zip-tied behind his back and a bruised, pale face, was a young man with messy brown hair and the distinctive hazel eyes I looked at in the mirror every single morning.
“Leo!” I gasped, throwing myself against the glass.
My brother lifted his head slowly, blinking against the glare of my phone screen. “Maya? What... what are you doing here? This place is a death trap!”
“I came to get you,” I said frantically, searching the wall beside the door for the electronic release keypad. It required a six-digit numerical code—a code I obviously didn't have.
“Maya,” Julian’s voice snapped through the earpiece, the tone completely devoid of its usual calm. “Victoria is unlocking the front door upstairs. She brought two armed enforcers with her. You need to get out of there right now.”
“No!” I hissed into the comms. “Leo is down here! He’s alive! Give me the override code for Cell 4, Julian—now!”
“I don't have it,” Julian said, and for the first time, panic laced his voice. “Victoria changed the master encryption protocols on the basement sub-grid three days ago. Only her thumbprint and voice imprint can open those cells.”
Heavy footsteps echoed loudly on the metal stairs above us.
Victoria Vescari’s voice drifted down into the dark basement, cold, mocking, and dripping with malicious triumph.
May you like
“Well, well, well,” Victoria called out, her heels clicking rhythmically against the metal grating. “It seems my security system caught a couple of stray mice tonight. And here I thought you drowned this morning, Julian.”
I froze, my hand still pressed against the cold glass of my brother’s prison cell, realizing we had walked straight into a trap.
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