Chapter 6 - The House Under Siege
Roman ripped the telephone cord from the wall.
“Back door.”
Natalie grabbed the ledgers.
Liam grabbed his coat.
Goliath was already growling at the windows.
“How did he find us?” Natalie demanded.
“Call tracing. Informant. Maybe the cabin has been watched for years.”
“My father’s been dead twelve years!”
“Elias waited twelve years for those ledgers. Men like him know how to be patient.”
Headlights appeared through the trees.
Not one vehicle.
Four.
Roman checked the pistol.
Only five rounds remained.
Natalie noticed.
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
“Wonderful.”
Roman looked around.
“Other exit?”
“Back door.”
“Too obvious.”
“There’s a crawlspace under the kitchen.”
“Where does it lead?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then it’s a coffin.”
Liam looked terrified.
Natalie crouched in front of him.
“Remember when we practiced fire drills?”
He nodded.
“This is like that.”
“No, it’s not.”
Natalie almost smiled.
“No. It isn’t.”
She held his shoulders.
“But I need the same thing from you. Listen. Move when I say. Stay with Goliath.”
“Okay.”
Roman checked the windows.
Men emerged from the vehicles.
At least twelve.
Natalie saw rifles.
One man carried a gasoline can.
“Oh God.”
“They’re not planning to search.”
Roman’s voice was calm.
“They’re planning to erase.”
Natalie looked toward the cabin.
Her father’s photograph.
His letter.
The place where he had hidden the truth for more than a decade.
She felt grief.
Then anger.
“They’re not burning this house.”
Roman looked at her.
“Natalie.”
“No.”
“What do you suggest?”
She remembered something.
“My father hunted.”
“So?”
“He was paranoid about forest fires.”
Roman waited.
“He installed a water tank uphill. Gravity-fed emergency sprinklers.”
“Do they work?”
“No idea.”
“Anything else?”
Natalie looked toward an old metal panel beside the fireplace.
“Maybe.”
She opened it.
Inside was a row of switches.
Most labels were faded.
One read PERIMETER.
She flipped it.
Nothing happened.
Outside, men approached.
Then somewhere above the cabin came a metallic groan.
Pipes shook.
A second later, high-pressure sprinklers erupted from the roofline.
Water sprayed across the porch and surrounding ground.
Liam smiled.
“It works!”
The men shouted.
Roman almost laughed.
“It’ll slow the gasoline.”
“Exactly.”
A bullet shattered the front window.
Everyone dropped.
Roman fired once.
A man outside ducked behind a vehicle.
“Down!” Natalie screamed.
She pulled Liam beneath the table.
Goliath shielded him.
More bullets struck the walls.
Roman crawled toward the front corner.
“They’re pinning us.”
“For what?”
“To let someone reach the back.”
Goliath suddenly spun.
A shadow appeared at the kitchen window.
The dog launched.
Glass exploded inward as a man tried climbing through.
Goliath hit him with a hundred and sixty pounds of muscle.
The intruder screamed.
Roman crossed the room and kicked the man’s rifle away.
Natalie grabbed it.
Roman stared at her.
“You know how to use that?”
“My father taught me.”
“Any other surprises?”
“Ask later.”
The injured intruder crawled toward the window.
Roman grabbed his jacket.
“Who’s leading the team?”
The man spat blood.
“Go to hell.”
Roman pressed the gun against his shoulder.
Natalie grabbed Roman’s arm.
“No executions in my father’s house.”
Roman looked at her.
Then at Liam.
He lowered the weapon.
The man laughed weakly.
“You’ve gone soft, Bellandi.”
Roman struck him once with the pistol.
The man collapsed.
“Not completely.”
Natalie gave him a look.
“He’ll live.”
Outside, someone shouted through a bullhorn.
“Roman!”
Elias.
His voice rolled through the trees.
“You are making this unnecessarily difficult.”
Roman moved toward the broken window.
Natalie stopped him.
“He wants you visible.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t give him what he wants.”
Elias continued.
“Natalie Brooks! I’m sorry you were brought into this.”
Natalie whispered, “He doesn’t sound sorry.”
“He never does.”
“You have something that belongs to me,” Elias called. “Give me the ledgers and I guarantee safe passage for you and your son.”
Roman shook his head.
“He’ll kill us before we reach the road.”
Natalie already knew.
Elias called again.
“Your former husband is here.”
Natalie froze.
Liam looked toward the window.
“Dad?”
Roman’s jaw clenched.
Then Derek appeared between two SUVs.
His hands were tied.
His face was bruised.
Natalie’s breath caught.
Derek looked terrified.
“Natalie!”
“Mom,” Liam whispered.
Derek struggled.
“They’re going to kill me!”
Roman stared at the scene.
“It’s bait.”
“I know.”
Derek screamed again.
“Natalie, please! I screwed up! I’m sorry!”
She felt nothing.
Then hated herself for feeling nothing.
Elias stood beside him.
He was in his sixties.
Silver hair.
Long dark overcoat.
He looked less like a criminal than a retired senator.
That made him worse.
Elias put a gun against Derek’s temple.
“Bring me the ledgers.”
Liam grabbed Natalie’s sleeve.
“Mom.”
Natalie swallowed.
Derek had betrayed them.
But Liam was watching.
Whatever she did next would become part of the person her son grew into.
She moved toward the door.
Roman blocked her.
“No.”
“He’s Liam’s father.”
“He brought killers to your home.”
“I know.”
“He put a tracker on your vehicle.”
“I know!”
Roman lowered his voice.
“Elias will kill him whether you walk out or not.”
Natalie stared at Roman.
Outside, Derek began crying.
Real tears.
“Natalie! Please!”
She closed her eyes.
Then Goliath barked.
Once.
Natalie turned.
The dog stood beside the fireplace.
Not looking outside.
Looking downward.
Again.
Roman understood first.
“The compartment?”
“No.”
Natalie remembered childhood visits.
Her father disappearing beneath the cabin to repair pipes.
“There’s another way.”
She ran toward the bedroom.
Pulled aside an old wardrobe.
Behind it was a small door.
Roman opened it.
Stone steps descended.
“A root cellar?”
“Old coal storage.”
“Exit?”
“I think it connects to the slope behind the springhouse.”
Roman smiled.
“Your father really was paranoid.”
“He had good reason.”
Natalie stuffed the ledgers into a backpack.
Roman lifted the unconscious attacker’s radio.
Voices crackled through.
“East side ready.”
“Rear team moving.”
“Fire on Ward’s order.”
Roman keyed the radio.
He changed his voice.
“Movement north side.”
Static.
Then: “Copy. Reposition.”
Roman tossed it away.
“Go.”
Natalie grabbed Liam.
They descended.
Goliath followed.
Roman came last and dragged the wardrobe back across the entrance.
The tunnel smelled of wet earth and coal dust.
They moved in darkness.
Above them, gunfire continued.
Then Elias’s amplified voice boomed:
“Thirty seconds!”
Natalie crawled ahead.
The tunnel narrowed.
Liam began breathing rapidly.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“It’s too small.”
Natalie reached backward and found his hand.
“Listen to my voice.”
Goliath squeezed beside him.
“You’re okay. Five more feet.”
The passage angled upward.
Roman suddenly groaned behind them.
Natalie turned.
He had collapsed to one knee.
“Roman.”
“Keep moving.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Keep moving.”
“No.”
She crawled back.
His bandage was soaked again.
His lips had gone pale.
Natalie grabbed his face.
“Look at me.”
His eyes opened.
“You do not get to die in a tunnel after I dug you out of a grave.”
A weak smile.
“That would be embarrassing.”
“Very.”
She hooked his arm over her shoulder.
Together they crawled.
Liam found the exit first.
A rotted wooden hatch.
He pushed.
It didn’t move.
“Mom!”
Roman reached forward.
He and Natalie shoved.
The hatch burst open beneath wet leaves.
Cold air rushed in.
They emerged fifty yards behind the cabin.
The springhouse hid them from the attackers.
Natalie looked uphill.
A narrow trail climbed toward a ridge.
Below, Elias still faced the front of the house.
Derek remained on his knees.
Then Elias apparently realized something was wrong.
He lifted his hand.
The gunfire stopped.
He stared at the cabin.
“Roman?”
Silence.
Elias shouted to his men.
“Inside!”
The front door exploded inward.
Roman looked toward Natalie.
“Move.”
They climbed.
Twenty seconds later, men began shouting.
“Tunnel!”
“Rear slope!”
“They’re out!”
Natalie ran harder.
Liam struggled beside her.
Goliath stayed between the boy and the sounds behind them.
They were halfway to the ridge when a shot rang out.
Roman stumbled.
Natalie screamed.
He fell against a tree.
“Where?”
“I’m okay.”
“Where were you hit?”
Roman looked down.
A bullet had grazed his upper arm.
Blood spread quickly.
Another shot tore bark beside Natalie’s head.
Goliath barked violently.
They ran.
The ridge approached.
Beyond it lay an old quarry road Natalie vaguely remembered.
If they reached it, maybe—
A man stepped from behind a tree.
Rifle raised.
Natalie stopped.
Roman reached for his pistol.
Too slow.
Then Goliath launched.
The mastiff struck the gunman in the chest.
Both crashed into the mud.
The rifle fired harmlessly into the air.
Roman dragged Natalie forward.
“Come on!”
They reached the quarry road.
A vehicle waited there.
Black sedan.
Natalie’s heart sank.
Another trap.
Then the driver’s door opened.
A man jumped out.
He looked remarkably like Roman.
Younger.
Same gray eyes.
“Roman!”
Roman stopped.
“Anthony?”
His brother ran toward them.
“I tracked Elias, not you.”
Roman stared.
Anthony opened the rear door.
“Get in!”
Natalie didn’t move.
“How do I know we can trust him?”
Roman looked at his brother.
Then at her.
“You don’t.”
Anthony shouted, “If I wanted him dead, I could have stayed home and inherited everything!”
Natalie considered that.
“Good point.”
They piled into the car.
Goliath occupied half the back seat.
Anthony accelerated.
Men appeared on the quarry road behind them.
Bullets struck the trunk.
The sedan disappeared around a bend.
Natalie looked back through the shattered rear window.
Far below, her father’s cabin still stood beneath the emergency sprinklers.
Elias Ward watched from the road.
Derek remained kneeling beside him.
For one second, Natalie and Derek’s eyes met across the distance.
Then Elias leaned down and whispered something into Derek’s ear.
Derek’s face changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
He looked directly toward Natalie’s escaping car.
And smiled.
Roman saw it too.
His voice went cold.
“Your ex-husband isn’t Elias’s prisoner.”
Natalie’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Roman continued.
“He’s still working for him.”
