Chapter 3

There was an emergency parachute pack there.

"Juliette, pull the cord!" Richard yelled.

My hand shook as I clawed for the rip cord. The parachute bloomed open above us, instantly slowing our descent.

With every ounce of strength left in me, I wailed toward the helicopter, "Theodore, you have to save Dad, or you'll regret this for the rest of your life!"

Theodore merely sneered, raising his sniper rifle once more. This time, the muzzle was aimed at my wrist.

"My dad is enjoying his life on a cruise, but you… You're about to learn what it feels like to lose those closest to you!"

The crack of the rifle echoed in the air before the bullet tore through my wrist.

The pain drained the strength from my hand in an instant, and Richard fell toward the bottomless cliff like a kite with its string cut.

"Dad!"

The scream that tore from my throat was the most harrowing sound I had ever made.

My vision went dark, and I nearly passed out. The basket hung precariously by a single, fraying cable, swaying over the cliff.

Beside me, Margaret lay unconscious, her fate uncertain.

Not far away, Theodore and Natalie sat comfortably inside the helicopter, casually sipping red wine as if they were merely watching a performance.

Natalie clapped her hands, and a drone carrying a black metal box hovered toward us.

From a distance, she smiled at us and said, "I heard killer bee venom can stimulate the heart, Ms. Kane. I'm only trying to help save her."

The box opened above us. Hundreds, then thousands of black killer bees swarmed out.

Their buzzing sent a chill running down my spine as the swarm rushed toward us.

Ignoring the pain in my wrist and the weight of my own despair, I threw my battered body over Margaret and shielded her as tightly as I could.

That was when I saw Richard's briefcase. It had fallen into the corner of the basket and gotten wedged there. The zipper had split open, revealing the edge of a metal device inside.

Recognition struck me. It was the military-grade drone signal jammer Richard's company had just developed, the one they hadn't announced to the public yet.

Only yesterday, he had boasted with pride that once activated, every drone within a ten-mile radius would be rendered useless.

In an instant, the 1,000 drones that had been hovering so menacingly suddenly went dead.

Like headless chickens, they lost all control, colliding into one another in mid-air before plunging into the depths of the cliff.

The smiles on Theodore and Natalie's faces stiffened.

Theodore immediately sensed that something was wrong. This was absolutely not technology that ordinary civilians could get their hands on.

Panic finally broke through his composure as he demanded, "What did you do? What is that thing?"

He lifted the sniper rifle again, his eyes burning with a murderous rage. He leveled the muzzle at my head, snarling, "You bitch! You ruined my proposal. I'm going to kill you!"

He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

I closed my eyes and waited for death.

But instead, a sharper, clearer crack echoed through the air.

A second bullet came flying in at greater velocity from the side and struck Theodore's bullet in midair with perfect accuracy, shattering it into a spray of brilliant sparks.

My eyes snapped open, only to see that five pitch-black attack helicopters marked with golden griffin emblems had appeared out of nowhere.

They descended menacingly, surrounding Theodore's private helicopter.

A hatch on one of the attack helicopters swung open. A tall man in a military uniform rappelled down from the helicopter and landed steadily on Theodore's aircraft.

With a heavy punch, he sent Theodore crashing to the floor before seizing the rifle from his hands in one fluid motion.