Chapter 4 - THREE SECONDS IN THE DARK
Celeste moved before the gunman could fire.
She dropped to one knee and pulled Admiral Reed behind the marble base of a flower display.
A suppressed shot struck the wall where Reed’s chest had been.
Guests screamed and threw themselves beneath tables.
The ballroom became a storm of overturned chairs and breaking glass.
Celeste counted the seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
Emergency lights flickered on.
A masked man stood near the service corridor with a pistol raised.
Celeste seized a silver serving tray from the floor and hurled it.
The edge struck the attacker’s wrist.
His weapon fell.
He reached beneath his jacket.
Celeste crossed the distance before he could draw a second gun.
She drove her shoulder into his chest and slammed him against a stone column.
His head struck the marble.
She twisted his arm behind his back and forced him to the floor.
The guests stared in stunned silence.
The woman Vivian had mocked only minutes earlier had neutralized an armed attacker in less than five seconds.
Reed recovered the pistol.
“Clear,” he announced.
Celeste pulled the mask from the man’s face.
She recognized him.
His name was Eric Voss.
He had served as Warren Strategic Systems’ director of private security for eight years.
Arthur stared at him.
“Eric?”
Voss smiled despite the blood at the corner of his mouth.
“You should have stayed dead, Commander.”
Julian stepped out from behind the honor table.
He looked appropriately horrified.
He looked too appropriately horrified.
Celeste searched Voss’s jacket.
She found a security badge, two ammunition magazines, and a folded card.
Three words were written across it.
PIER NINE MIDNIGHT.
Celeste showed the card to Reed.
Julian’s gaze shifted toward it before he could stop himself.
Celeste noticed.
“Where is Pier Nine?” Reed asked.
Arthur answered reluctantly.
“An abandoned Warren shipping terminal.”
Vivian moved toward Julian.
“Why would your security director carry that?”
Julian’s expression remained calm.
“Because he clearly betrayed us.”
Voss began laughing from the floor.
“You still don’t understand,” he said to Vivian.
“You were never part of the plan.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Voss looked at Celeste.
“Ask your father what happened the night your mother died.”
Arthur’s face collapsed.
Before Celeste could question him, Voss’s body convulsed.
Foam appeared at his lips.
Reed dropped beside him.
“Poison capsule.”
Voss stared at Celeste as his breathing failed.
May you like
With his final strength, he whispered one name.
“Amelia.”
