Chapter 14 - Shadow WorkEthan ran silently up the service stairs toward the patriarch’s wing.
Naomi melted into the shadows of the main hallway. Her mind cleared instantly, the old familiar adrenaline flooding her bloodstream like liquid ice. The regret, the guilt of Philadelphia, the mundane routine of housekeeping—all of it vanished, replaced by pure, razor-sharp tactical awareness.
She counted the footsteps echoing from the conservatory.
Three men. Professional movement. Heavier equipment.
"Target room is upstairs," a low voice rasped through an earpiece down the corridor. "The old man’s safe has the hard drives. Remember, the Sterling contract specified clean work. No survivors, make it look like an armed robbery gone wrong."
Naomi’s eyes narrowed in the dark.
The Sterling contract.
Richard Sterling hadn't just walked away angry. The moment his daughter was disgraced, he had activated a contingency plan to ruin the Whitmore family, wipe out their real estate assets by stealing their proprietary investment algorithms, and silence Arthur Whitmore permanently.
Naomi didn't hesitate.
She slipped behind a massive marble pillar as the first intruder entered the gallery. He wore night-vision goggles, a black tactical vest, and carried a suppressed submachine gun.
He passed her pillar.
Naomi moved like a phantom. She stepped out behind him, her left arm sliding around his throat in a tight sleeper hold while her right hand jammed his weapon upward to prevent a discharge. Before he could tap his radio, she drove her knee into the back of his joint, took him to the floor silently, and applied pressure to his carotid artery until his body went limp.
She caught his weapon before it hit the floor, stripped his radio and earpiece, and slipped the comms unit into her own ear.
One down. Two to go.
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A voice crackled in her earpiece: "Bravo-Two, report status. Did you locate the stairs?"
Naomi didn't speak. She adjusted her grip on the captured tactical flashlight, clicked the strobe switch, and stepped out into the dark ballroom.
