Chapter 7 - Lockdown on the Estate
Before the helicopter could lift off the roof helipad, the estate’s automated security protocols tripped a Level-4 perimeter alarm.
Warning: Unauthorized digital transmission detected on outbound frequency.
Adrian, who was striding down the grand corridor toward the roof access stairs, stopped dead in his tracks. He pulled out his encrypted satellite phone and dialed Callahan, his lead cybersecurity specialist.
“Callahan, report.”
“Boss, we have a breach,” Callahan’s voice crackled rapidly through the speaker. “Someone in the holding facility just attempted to bounce an encrypted satellite ping to an external IP address registered in Zurich.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened. “Madison.”
“She didn't use a phone, boss,” Callahan explained, sounding breathless. “She must have had a micro-transmitter surgically embedded under her skin or hidden in her clothing—something our metal detectors missed during the initial intake. She just transmitted a dead-man switch data packet.”
“What does the packet contain?” Adrian demanded, his pace quickening as he approached the heavy steel roof door.
“It’s a location drop,” Callahan said grimly. “It’s broadcasting Claire’s coordinates to an armed extraction team currently en route to the Adirondack facility. If we don't beat them there, whoever is holding your wife is going to eliminate her before we arrive.”
Adrian didn't hesitate. He slammed the satellite phone back into his pocket.
“Marcus!” he shouted over the howling wind of the rooftop helipad.
“Sir!”
“Double our speed. We’re flying blind into a combat zone.”
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Minutes later, the twin-engine Sikorsky helicopter tore off the roof of the Hudson Valley estate, its massive rotor blades slicing through the freezing pre-dawn air as it banked sharply northward toward the snow-capped peaks of the Adirondacks.
Below them, the sprawling mansion shrank into a tiny cluster of lights, swallowed entirely by the vast, unforgiving wilderness of upstate New York.
