Chapter 11 - THE SIEGE AT THE LAKE HOUSE
Arthur’s security team moved Bella, Sarah, and Margaret into the reinforced basement room.
Marcus remained upstairs with Reyes.
Andrew was brought with them, his hands secured.
The power remained out.
Emergency lights cast the room in red.
Bella pressed herself against Sarah.
“They came for me.”
Sarah held her tightly.
“They are not taking you.”
Outside, engines surrounded the house.
Arthur opened a weapons cabinet, but Sarah stepped in front of him.
“You cannot leave Bella.”
“I have to help stop them.”
“She already lost one parent.”
Arthur looked at his daughter.
Bella stared at him through tears.
“Stay.”
The single word ended the argument.
Arthur locked the cabinet.
Reyes’s voice came through the emergency radio.
“Three vehicles.”
“Six armed men.”
“They are not trying to enter.”
“They are setting the house on fire.”
Smoke appeared beneath the basement door.
Margaret began coughing.
Andrew lifted his secured hands.
“There is another exit.”
Arthur turned toward him.
“How do you know?”
“I helped Malcolm review the original construction plans.”
Andrew looked ashamed.
“I worked for him.”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed.
“You were the one following us from the clinic.”
“Yes.”
Andrew admitted that Malcolm had ordered him to monitor Bella.
But he had not expected Malcolm to target Sarah’s mother.
“When I saw the fake ambulance, I knew he planned to remove every witness.”
“Why should we trust you?”
Arthur asked.
“You shouldn’t.”
Andrew pointed toward the rear wall.
“But the tunnel is behind that shelving unit.”
Arthur and Sarah pushed the shelf aside.
A narrow metal door appeared.
Smoke thickened.
They entered the tunnel as Marcus and Reyes retreated from upstairs.
The passage ended near the boathouse.
Arthur carried Margaret.
Sarah guided Bella.
Marcus brought Andrew.
They reached the lake as flames climbed the rear of the house.
A boat waited at the dock.
The engine would not start.
The fuel line had been cut.
Headlights appeared between the trees.
Arthur looked across the water.
The opposite shore was too far to swim.
Bella tugged Sarah’s hand.
“Mommy’s room.”
Sarah looked at her.
“What?”
“Under the dock.”
Bella remembered Claire hiding a second boat beneath the boathouse platform.
Marcus found the release lever.
A small emergency craft dropped into the water.
They climbed aboard seconds before the attackers reached the shore.
As the boat moved into the darkness, Bella looked back at the burning lake house.
Arthur wrapped his coat around her.
May you like
She leaned against him.
For the first time since Claire’s death, she allowed her father to hold her.
