Chapter 10 - Unraveling Lily's True Connection To The Dark Past
Before Marcus could pull the trigger, a second black SUV crashed through the front security gates with sirens wailing loudly.
Federal Bureau of Investigation tactical units poured out of the vehicles, raising their assault rifles toward the hovering helicopter.
"Hold your fire! Federal agents! Drop your weapon and step away from the aircraft!" an FBI captain yelled through a megaphone.
The helicopter pilot panicked, aborting the extraction and pulling the aircraft sharply upward into the low-hanging coastal clouds.
The stranger clinging to the rope ladder slipped for a fraction of a second, dropping a small leather notebook onto the grass below.
Marcus lowered his rifle slightly, sprinting across the dew-soaked lawn to retrieve the fallen leather notebook before the agents arrived.
He picked it up quickly, slipping it inside his tactical vest pocket as Captain Miller jogged up to secure the sprawling estate perimeter.
"Are you alright, Mr. Sterling? We received an automated distress signal from your private security terminal twenty minutes ago," Miller asked.
"My daughter and I are safe, Captain, but the intruders escaped with secondary research archives," Marcus reported firmly.
"We have units tracking that helicopter across state lines toward the Boston harbor, Marcus; they won't get far," Miller assured him.
Marcus returned to the grand foyer, thanking the federal officers before taking the private elevator back up to the penthouse panic room.
He unlocked the heavy steel door, finding Lily sitting on the sofa playing peacefully with her teddy bear despite the chaotic night.
"Is the bad man gone now, Daddy?" Lily asked, looking up with big, innocent eyes that mirrored her late mother's gaze.
"Yes, sweetheart... the bad men are gone, and we are finally safe," Marcus promised, sitting beside her on the cushions.
He pulled the leather notebook from his vest, flipping open the worn leather cover under the warm lamp light of the bedroom.
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The first page contained a handwritten entry penned by Sarah years ago, detailing the truth about Lily's true lineage.
***
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