Chapter 20 - The Sovereign’s Fortress
By midnight, the battlefield had shifted four hundred miles north to the rugged, mist-shrouded crags of the Scottish Highlands.
Alistair Vance’s ancestral castle, Dunraven Keep, stood perched over a sheer cliff dropping into the violent, churning waters of the North Sea. Vance had retreated here with forty heavily armed private security personnel, believing the fortress impregnable while he coordinated his private jet’s escape to an extradition-free haven in South America.
Inside a command van parked three miles down the coastal road, Arthur, Julian, Maxwell, and I watched Dunraven Keep’s thermal imaging feed.
"The local airspace is grounded due to a severe storm," Julian reported, pointing to the radar screen. "His private helicopter can’t lift off. Vance is trapped inside, but his perimeter is ringed with automated sensors and armed guards."
"We don't need to breach the walls with dynamite," Arthur said calmly, leaning over the console. "Dunraven Keep was wired for modern communications by a subsidiary of Sterling Telecommunications ten years ago. Every camera, every electronic lock, every power relay runs through our encrypted network."
Arthur looked at me, nodding toward the terminal. "The master override code is your birthdate, Claire. Cut his power."
I stepped up to the keyboard. My fingers danced across the keys with absolute precision. I entered the sequence: *0-9-1-4-S-T-E-R-L-I-N-G*.
Across the dark horizon, the massive floodlights illuminating Dunraven Keep instantly died, plunging the ancient stone fortress into pitch-black darkness. The heavy iron security gates unlatched with a metallic groan.
"Power severed," I announced, turning to my father. "The gates are open."
May you like
Arthur racked the slide of his sidearm, his eyes burning with cold vengeance. "Maxwell, Julian, take the tactical squad through the southern courtyard. Claire and I will enter through the sea caves beneath the eastern tower. It's time to settle the debt of the Sterling family."
***
