Chapter 8 - The Price of Blood
Richard Vance’s face turned from purple to a ghostly, sickly grey.
"You... you wouldn't," Vance stuttered, the gun shaking in his hand. "You'll destroy yourself! You'll go to prison for life!"
"I was already in prison, Richard," Julian replied, his voice calm, cold, and utterly devoid of fear. "I was trapped in a white suit, in a white room, marrying a lie to secure a fortune built on the torture of four little girls."
Evelyn looked up at Julian, her tears stopping as she saw the man standing before her. For the first time since she had known him, he wasn't wearing his corporate mask. He looked dangerous, ruthless, and terrifyingly free.
"Julian..." Evelyn whispered.
Before Vance could pull the trigger, four small figures stepped out from the shadowy alcove behind the fire doors.
The quadruplets walked in unison, their pink organza dresses slightly dusty from the air ducts. They stopped ten feet from Vance, forming a straight, perfect line.
They raised their tiny right hands simultaneously.
In each of their small palms lay a small, metallic cylinder—the same ones Clara had used in the office.
"Target identified," the first girl spoke in her soft, melodic voice.
"Subject: Richard Vance," the second girl added.
"Protocol: Liquidation," the third girl said.
"Initiate," the fourth girl concluded.
They twisted the metal cylinders together.
A blinding, violet flash of light erupted from the devices, followed by an ultra-high frequency acoustic wave that shattered every glass sconce, mirror, and light fixture on the eighty-fifth floor in a single, terrifying instant.
The sound wave struck Richard Vance like a physical battering ram. The gun flew from his hand, his eardrums rupturing as he collapsed to his knees, screaming in agony as dark blood leaked from his ears and nose.
The security guards dropped their weapons, clutching their heads as they collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.
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Julian, protected by the heavy noise-canceling ear pieces Clara had slipped into his hands seconds before, stepped through the raining glass shards toward Vance.
He picked up Vance’s fallen titanium pistol from the floor.
