Chapter 12 - A Cornered Beast: Julian Discovers the Truth and Desperation Strikes
Three weeks had passed since the dramatic raid at the Sterling Manor.
Julian Miller and Walter Vance were being held without bail in a high-security federal detention center in Richmond, awaiting their trial for capital murder and treasonous financial conspiracy. Chloe, due to her advanced pregnancy, had been placed under strict house arrest at a secure state medical facility, under 24-hour guard.
The legal fallout had been swift and absolute. The state supreme court immediately reinstated all of my executive rights, voided every fraudulent document Julian had forged, and awarded Mason and me full control over the entirety of the Sterling family assets—now valued at over eight hundred million dollars following the recovery of the stolen European funds.
However, a cornered beast is at its most dangerous when it realizes it has nothing left to lose.
Late on a stormy Tuesday evening, Mason and I were at the main shipyard office, reviewing the re-hiring contracts for the dockworkers who had been wrongfully laid off during Julian’s brief takeover. The rain battered the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the executive tower, reminiscent of the day our car had been pushed into the bay.
Suddenly, the red emergency klaxon throughout the facility began to blare.
WHEEL-O! WHEEL-O! WHEEL-O!
Mason jumped to his feet, instantly drawing his sidearm from beneath his jacket. He moved to the security console and pulled up the perimeter feeds.
“What is it?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat.
“Security transport breach,” Mason said, his voice deadly serious. “Julian escaped during his medical transfer to the federal courthouse an hour ago. Victor Sterling’s remaining underground loyalists ambushed the prison van on Route 17.”
Before I could process the terror of his words, the heavy reinforced doors of the executive suite were blasted open by an explosive breaching charge.
BOOM!
Smoke, shattered wood, and blinding sparks filled the air.
Three armed mercenaries in black tactical gear stormed into the office, their rifles raised. Mason reacted with terrifying speed, dropping behind the heavy oak desk and firing three double-taps in rapid succession. The three mercenaries collapsed to the floor before they could even level their weapons.
From behind the cloud of smoke stepped Julian.
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He looked unrecognizable. His prison jumpsuit was soaked in rain and blood, his hair wild, his eyes hollow and burning with a psychotic, rabid madness. In his hands, he held a military-grade assault rifle and a detonator wired to several blocks of C4 strapped directly to his chest.
“Did you really think it was over, Valerie?!” Julian shrieked, his voice echoing through the ruined office. “If I can't have this empire, no one will! I will blow this entire shipyard into the sea with all three of us inside!”
