Chapter 16 - The Hunt in the Dark
The explosion blew out the remaining stained-glass windows in the ballroom, raining sharp multicolored shards onto the floor.
Julian screamed, completely disoriented, blinded by the magnesium flash, his eardrums ruptured by the pressure wave. He fired his carbine on full-auto in panic, the muzzle spitting yellow flame as armor-piercing bullets chewed through the marble pillars, the mahogany wainscoting, and the decaying portraits of his ancestors.
Gabriel didn't flinch. He had closed his eyes and opened his mouth the second he released the spoon.
Dropping to a low crawl, Gabriel moved beneath the line of fire. He flanked Julian through the dust cloud, lunging like a panther. Gabriel’s combat knife flashed in the darkness, slicing upward across Julian’s forearms, severing the extensor tendons.
The carbine clattered to the floor.
Julian roared in agony, stumbling backward into a shattered gilded mirror. But despite his age, Julian was a trained killer. He drew a ceramic-blade combat knife from his boot with his left hand, slashing wildly. The blade grazed Gabriel’s cheek, drawing a line of hot crimson.
Gabriel caught Julian’s wrist, twisting it inward until the bone snapped with a sickening crack.
Julian fell to his knees on the glass-covered floor, gasping for breath, clutching his broken wrist against his chest. Blood dripped from his arms onto the very floor where Marlene had once held court.
Gabriel stood over him, breathing heavily, his knife pressed firmly against the artery pulsing in Julian’s throat.
"Where are the rest of them?" Gabriel demanded, his voice chillingly calm.
Julian spit blood onto Gabriel’s combat boots, laughing through broken teeth. "The rest? You think I worked alone? You think I’m the only one who wanted Marlene's forty million dollars?"
Julian’s grin was monstrous, dripping with malice.
"Victoria... poor, stupid Victoria. You thought she was weeping over minimum wage in Queens? She was the bait, Gabriel. She’s the one who lured Marcus Vance into my pocket."
Gabriel’s heart froze.
*Marcus Vance.*
May you like
"Vance didn't come to Cape May to protect you," Julian wheezed, his eyes burning with sick triumph. "He came to track the tracker. The moment you ran, he called us. And while you were playing soldier with me in this rot-hole... Marcus was already driving down the ridge to the root cellar."
---
