Page 329 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Control, this is Kestrel. Report.’

Nothing.

Dead air.

He tries the emergency band.

Dead.

Lachlan gets to his feet. His body refuses Focus Mode, so he builds a broken version from whatever still works.

Cove. Cove. Get to the Cove.

He grabs his sidearm from the drawer, checks the chamber and moves, willing focus to form, begging balance to stabilise, forcing himself into action. The Estate’s backup circuit hasn’t engaged.

Everything is dark. The power is out. The Estate is under attack.

Stumbling out into the hallway, he clocks an intruder backlit by the moon outside the window.

Slate tactical shell. Front-pattern plate carrier. Face covered.

The Front.

The man sees Lachlan, shouts and raises his weapon.

Lachlan shoots him through the face. The world may be spinning, but his aim remains absolute. He advances, strips the rifle from the body and takes the spare magazine.

A gunshot cracks from below.

Then several more, uncontrolled and overlapping.

Two men charge up the main staircase shoulder to shoulder, weapons crowding each other. One fires before he has a sightline. Rounds tear plaster from the wall above Lachlan’s head. He drops behind the balustrade, fires twice through the spindles and keeps moving before either body settles.

Lachlan reaches the security partition between the central house and the East Wing. The blast doors are still recessed. They should have dropped at the first invasion alarm, dividing the Estate into sealed compartments.

He hits the manual control.

Nothing.

The override lever has been pulled and locked open… from inside.

An attacker comes through the doorway ahead.

Lachlan takes him out with a headshot.

His body is beginning to wake.

Not fast enough.

The drug drags at his muscles, turns every movement half a second late.

His heart pounds without force and sweat chills his back.

‘DANYA!’

Nothing.

He tries his rig again, but there’s no response.