Chapter 24: Red Snow
The attack came at three in the morning, not with an explosion or a loud crash, but with the silent cut of the house's power line. The security system immediately went to battery backup, its low-frequency beep echoing through the dark rooms.
I was awake instantly, my hand already gripping the service weapon. "Mara, get Leo into the bathroom. Lock the door and stay down," I whispered into the darkness.
I heard her move with practiced efficiency, her footsteps silent on the rug. I slipped out into the main living room, keeping my body low to the floor, using the heavy wooden furniture for cover. The moonlight through the windows provided just enough illumination to see the silhouettes of two figures moving toward the back porch.
The glass of the kitchen door shattered with a sharp, muted pop—a suppressed weapon.
I didn't wait for them to cross the threshold. I fired twice through the broken pane, the muzzle flash blinding me for a fraction of a second. A heavy thud followed, accompanied by a sharp groan of pain from the porch.
"Police! Drop your weapons!" I shouted, though I knew it was a formality they would ignore.
The second figure returned fire, a volley of rounds tearing through the kitchen cabinets, showering the room with splinters and broken porcelain. I rolled to my left, taking up a position behind the stone fireplace. My heart was pounding, but my mind was remarkably clear. This wasn't a complex political game anymore; it was an tactical engagement.
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I waited for the pause in his fire, counting the shots. On the eighth round, there was a brief silence as he moved to reload. I stepped out from behind the stone column and fired three times in rapid succession. The figure stumbled backward, crashing through the wooden railing of the porch and falling into the snow below.
Silence returned to the house, broken only by the wind whistling through the shattered kitchen door and the steady beep of the security monitor. I approached the porch with caution, my weapon extended. The man who had fallen through the railing was motionless, the white snow beneath him turning a deep, dark crimson.
