Chapter 10: The Siege at the Lighthouse
Rain pounded against the lighthouse windows.
The first black SUV skidded to a stop at the base of the cliff.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Their headlights illuminated the weathered stone tower like spotlights on a battlefield.
Inside, every federal agent took position.
Weapons remained lowered but ready.
Rebecca Lawson looked toward the windows.
"Can anyone confirm how many?"
An agent peered through his scope.
"At least twelve."
"Armed?"
"Yes."
Admiral Reed nodded grimly.
"They didn't come to negotiate."
Celeste tightened her grip on the metal box.
Hidden inside was the flash drive Ethan had risked his life to protect.
Whatever it contained, Richard Sloan wanted it badly enough to launch an armed assault on federal officers.
That alone told her how valuable the evidence really was.
Outside, the driver's door of the lead SUV opened.
A tall man stepped into the rain.
Richard Sloan.
Even after years away from Sterling Global, he still carried himself like the head of corporate security.
His gray hair was cropped short.
His dark raincoat concealed a bulletproof vest.
He slowly removed his sunglasses despite the storm.
His cold blue eyes settled on the lighthouse.
Then he raised both empty hands.
"I'd like to talk."
Rebecca laughed quietly.
"Convenient."
Admiral Reed looked at Celeste.
"Do you know him well?"
She nodded.
"When I was a teenager, he taught me self-defense."
Reed frowned.
"He trained you?"
"He said my father wanted every member of the family to know how to protect themselves."
She paused.
"I didn't realize he was really teaching me how he thought."
Richard's voice echoed through a bullhorn.
"Commander Sterling."
"I know you're in there."
Celeste stepped toward a broken window.
"I'm here."
"I don't want anyone else getting hurt."
She answered calmly.
"Neither do I."
"Then give me the flash drive."
Rebecca whispered,
"Don't respond."
But Celeste already had.
"You came all this way for one piece of evidence?"
Richard smiled faintly.
"No."
"I came because Arthur asked me to bring his daughter home."
Celeste almost laughed.
"Six years too late."
His expression didn't change.
"You misunderstand."
"I wasn't asked to protect you."
Silence.
"I was asked to stop you."
Rebecca quietly motioned for one of the agents.
"Can you stall them?"
He nodded.
Another agent used a loudspeaker.
"Richard Sloan!"
"You are surrounded by federal officers."
"Drop your weapons."
Richard didn't move.
Instead, he looked directly at Celeste.
"You know your father."
"He always finishes what he starts."
Celeste answered,
"So do I."
A flash of lightning split the sky.
For an instant, the entire cliffside glowed white.
Celeste saw something that everyone else had missed.
Farther up the ridge...
Hidden among the rocks...
Another man lay prone with a rifle.
"A sniper!"
She dove toward Rebecca just as another shot shattered the window.
The bullet smashed into the stone wall where Rebecca had been standing only a heartbeat earlier.
Glass exploded across the room.
"Move!" Admiral Reed shouted.
Federal agents immediately repositioned.
One fired a smoke grenade through the broken window.
Dense white smoke rolled across the hillside.
The sniper lost his line of sight.
Richard cursed under his breath.
He reached for his radio.
"Advance."
Four armed men rushed toward the lighthouse entrance.
They never reached it.
Two federal agents emerged from cover and ordered them to stop.
Instead of firing, the men raised their hands.
Rebecca frowned.
"What are they doing?"
Then she understood.
"They're distracting us."
Admiral Reed's eyes widened.
"The back entrance!"
Celeste spun around.
The old lighthouse had once been supplied through a narrow maintenance tunnel carved into the cliff decades earlier.
Most people didn't know it existed.
She did.
"So does Richard."
Without waiting, she sprinted down the spiral staircase.
Admiral Reed followed close behind.
The tunnel door burst open just as they reached it.
Two armed men charged inside.
The first swung his weapon toward Celeste.
She reacted on instinct.
A quick sidestep.
A sharp strike to his wrist.
The rifle clattered across the stone floor.
The second attacker lunged.
Admiral Reed intercepted him, driving him backward into the tunnel wall.
Years of military training overcame brute force.
Within seconds, both intruders were disarmed.
But more footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
"They keep coming," Reed warned.
Celeste looked around.
Then she saw it.
An old steel emergency gate.
Rust covered its hinges.
It hadn't been moved in decades.
"Help me!"
Together they shoved against the heavy gate.
It groaned.
Moved an inch.
Then another.
More footsteps.
Voices drawing closer.
With one final push, the steel barrier slammed into place.
A massive locking pin dropped into position.
The attackers pounded against it from the opposite side.
But it held.
For now.
Upstairs, Rebecca received an urgent call.
"The signal's back!" an agent shouted.
She answered immediately.
"Lawson."
A familiar voice replied.
"Ethan Sterling."
She sighed with relief.
"Ethan."
"They're after the wrong evidence."
Rebecca froze.
"What do you mean?"
"The flash drive..."
"It isn't the most important thing."
Her heartbeat quickened.
"What are you talking about?"
"I remembered something after surgery."
His breathing sounded strained.
"Mom left another box."
Rebecca looked toward Celeste.
"Where?"
"In the lighthouse."
Rebecca frowned.
"We're already here."
"No."
"Not inside."
A long pause followed.
Then Ethan whispered the words that changed everything.
"It's buried beneath the old flagpole."
The call ended.
Rebecca slowly lowered the phone.
Outside, Richard Sloan looked toward the top of the lighthouse and smiled.
Almost as if...
He already knew.
Then, without warning, a powerful explosion rocked the cliff.
The ground beneath the lighthouse trembled violently.
Stone cracked.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
One of the agents shouted in alarm.
May you like
"They're bringing the tower down!"
The century-old lighthouse—the last place that still held the Sterling family's deepest secrets—began to collapse around them.
