“Garrett! She’s heading for the breaker box!” I yelled.
“I’m trying to override the manual relays, Boss, but if she physically throws the main switch—”
On the internal feed, I saw Claire disappear down the basement stairs. Five seconds later, the lights in the living room flickered.
“Claire, don’t do it!” I roared into the microphone.
Lily looked up at the camera, her tear-streaked face twisted in terror. “Daddy…” she whispered.
Then, the feed froze. The audio cut out with a sharp hiss of static. The screen on my phone went entirely black. The words CONNECTION LOST flashed in harsh white letters.
Claire had killed the power to the entire property. The electronic locks would default to their fail-safe mode in three minutes, meaning the doors would unlock. I was 30,000 feet in the air, completely blind, and my daughter was locked in the dark with monsters.
The remaining flight felt like an eternity drowning in wet cement. When the Gulfstream finally slammed onto the tarmac at Bradley Air Force Base, the tires smoking, I was out of the cabin door before the stairs had fully extended.
Garrett was waiting beside a black, armored SUV, the engine already roaring. I threw myself into the passenger seat, and we tore out of the gates, sirens wailing, police escorts clearing the intersections ahead of us.
“What’s the status?” I demanded, loading a fresh magazine into my sidearm purely out of muscle memory, my hands trembling with suppressed rage.
“Local PD arrived on the scene ten minutes ago,” Garrett said, gripping the steering wheel tight. “They breached the perimeter. Paramedics are on site.”
“Lily?”
“She’s alive,” Garrett said softly. “But Elias… things are complicated on the ground.”
“What does that mean?”
