Chapter 11 - THE LEVERAGEThe avalanche hit the highway with the force of a freight train. In the rearview mirror, Julian watched as the roaring white tide instantly swallowed the two mercenary vehicles, sweeping them off the cliff edge and into the abyss below.
The edge of the snow cloud slammed into the back of the G-Wagon, pushing the heavy SUV forward, its tires screaming for traction on the ice. For five agonizing seconds, they were surfing a tidal wave of death. With a final, violent lurch, Julian steered the vehicle out of the danger zone, skidding to a halt just as the avalanche buried the road behind them.
The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the ticking of the cooling engine.
Julian rested his forehead against the steering wheel, exhaling a ragged breath. Maria slumped back in the passenger seat, her hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline dump.
"We made it," she whispered.
Suddenly, Julian’s encrypted satellite phone rang. The screen displayed an unknown caller ID. He answered it, putting it on speaker.
"Impressive driving, little brother," Alexander’s voice chimed in. "But you always were good at surviving disasters. Too bad you can't save everyone."
"I’m coming for you, Alex," Julian said, his voice deadly calm. "There isn't a bunker deep enough to hide you."
"Oh, I'm not hiding," Alexander laughed. "I'm watching you right now. But I think you need a little incentive to hurry up. Turn on the video feed."
Julian checked the phone screen. The audio switched to a live video. His heart plummeted. It was a shot of the Black Site in Brooklyn. But Julian’s guards were dead on the floor. In the center of the room, Victoria was strapped to the chair, weeping hysterically, a masked man holding a suppressed pistol to her head.
"She failed me," Alexander said coldly over the feed. "And in my empire, failure is punished. But I’ll give you a choice, Julian. I can shoot her, or I can shoot the maid’s sister."
The camera panned. Bound and gagged in the corner was Elena, Maria’s younger sister, a college student in New York.
Maria let out a strangled gasp, lunging for the phone. "Elena! No!"
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"Alexander, don't you touch her!" Julian roared. "This is between you and me!"
"You have ten seconds, Julian. Who dies? The treacherous wife, or the innocent sister? Choose, or they both die."
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