Chapter 8: The Shot in the Dark
The gunshot echoed through the ballroom.
For one terrifying second, no one moved.
Then chaos erupted.
Guests screamed and ducked beneath tables. Crystal glasses crashed onto the marble floor. Someone shouted for security while others rushed toward the exits, only to find the doors locked by the emergency security system that had activated when the power failed.
"Stay down!" Admiral Reed ordered.
Years of military command took over instantly.
His voice cut through the panic.
"Everyone stay where you are!"
Celeste dropped to one knee, instinctively scanning the darkness.
Her training returned without hesitation.
She slowed her breathing.
Listened.
The room was filled with frightened voices—but beneath them, she heard something else.
Footsteps.
Fast.
Controlled.
Someone was moving toward the center of the ballroom.
"Left side," she whispered.
Admiral Reed nodded.
"I hear it."
A beam of light suddenly sliced through the darkness.
One of the federal agents had activated a tactical flashlight.
Its bright white beam swept across overturned chairs, terrified guests, and shattered glass.
Then it stopped.
A man lay on the marble floor.
Blood spread across the sleeve of his tuxedo.
"Ethan!" Victoria screamed.
She rushed toward him before anyone could stop her.
Celeste followed close behind.
Ethan clutched his left shoulder, his face twisted in pain.
"I'm... okay," he gasped.
"The bullet... missed my chest."
Admiral Reed knelt beside him and examined the wound.
"It went straight through the shoulder."
He looked at one of the agents.
"Call an ambulance."
The agent reached for his radio.
"No signal."
Rebecca frowned.
"What?"
"The communication system is dead."
Another agent checked his phone.
"So is the cellular network."
Someone had deliberately jammed every form of communication inside the ballroom.
Celeste's eyes narrowed.
"This wasn't random."
Admiral Reed nodded.
"They planned it."
The emergency backup generators finally activated.
The chandeliers flickered back to life.
The once-elegant ballroom now looked like the scene of a disaster.
Tables had been overturned.
Champagne stained the marble floor.
Guests stood trembling in small groups.
Rebecca immediately took control.
"No one leaves."
She turned toward the federal agents.
"Seal every entrance."
One agent hurried to the main doors.
A moment later, he called out.
"The rear service exit is open!"
Rebecca's expression hardened.
"They escaped."
Celeste looked around the ballroom carefully.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
She glanced toward the spot where Ethan had been standing moments before the lights went out.
The silver flash drive was gone.
She immediately searched the floor.
Nothing.
Rebecca noticed.
"What is it?"
"The drive."
"What about it?"
"It's missing."
Silence.
Whoever fired the shot hadn't been trying to kill Ethan.
They had been trying to recover the evidence.
Ethan struggled to sit upright.
"They took it."
His breathing was shallow.
"I felt someone grab my hand after I fell."
"Did you see who it was?" Rebecca asked.
He closed his eyes.
"No."
"It happened too fast."
Arthur stood several feet away, unusually calm.
Too calm.
Celeste watched him closely.
"If you ordered this..."
Arthur looked at her with genuine irritation.
"You think I'd arrange a shooting in front of two hundred witnesses?"
"I think you'd do whatever protects your empire."
His eyes hardened.
"You still don't understand how the world works."
"No," Celeste replied quietly.
"I understand exactly how your world works."
A young federal agent hurried toward Rebecca.
"We found a shell casing."
He handed her an evidence bag.
Rebecca examined it.
"Nine-millimeter."
The agent nodded.
"But there's something unusual."
"What?"
"No fingerprints."
"Professional."
Admiral Reed wasn't surprised.
"The shooter knew exactly what they were doing."
Meanwhile, Victoria remained beside Ethan, pressing a folded tablecloth against his wound.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I'm so sorry."
Ethan managed a weak smile.
"This isn't your fault."
"I should've listened to Celeste years ago."
He looked across the room at his older sister.
"I should've believed you."
Celeste walked over and knelt beside him.
"You don't need to talk."
He shook his head.
"Yes... I do."
His voice was barely audible.
"The flash drive..."
"I made a copy."
Celeste blinked.
"What?"
"A second copy."
Rebecca immediately stepped closer.
"Where?"
Ethan smiled faintly.
"I knew Dad would come after the first one."
"So I hid another."
Arthur's face went rigid.
"Where is it?" Rebecca asked.
Ethan looked at Celeste.
"Do you remember Mom's lighthouse?"
Celeste froze.
The lighthouse.
An old stone lighthouse on the rocky coast of Maine.
Their mother had loved it.
Before her death, she had taken Celeste and Ethan there every summer.
Arthur had never gone.
"I remember," Celeste said softly.
Ethan nodded.
"Under the third floor."
"In the wooden floorboards."
"The loose plank."
Celeste immediately understood.
Their childhood hiding place.
No one else knew about it.
Or so they had believed.
Before Rebecca could ask another question, a federal agent's phone suddenly vibrated.
"The signal's back."
He answered immediately.
After listening for several seconds, his expression changed.
He looked at Rebecca.
"Ma'am..."
"What is it?"
"We've identified the black SUV."
Rebecca waited.
"It belongs to a private security company."
"Which one?"
The agent swallowed.
"Sentinel Risk Management."
Admiral Reed recognized the name instantly.
"So do I."
Rebecca looked at him.
"You've heard of them?"
He nodded slowly.
"They're run by Richard Sloan."
The ballroom fell silent once again.
Rebecca turned toward Arthur.
"Your former security chief now owns the company that kidnapped Daniel Mercer."
Arthur didn't answer.
Instead, his eyes drifted toward one of the ballroom windows.
Celeste followed his gaze.
Outside...
Across the street...
A black SUV sat idling beneath a streetlamp.
Its headlights switched on.
Then, almost deliberately, the driver flashed them twice.
Arthur's expression changed for just a fraction of a second.
It was enough.
Celeste saw it.
Rebecca saw it.
Admiral Reed saw it.
The signal wasn't for the people inside the SUV.
It was for Arthur Sterling.
May you like
And without saying a single word...
Arthur gave the slightest nod in return.
