The Laser Dot

*Chapter 6

The red dot moved slow, deliberate, across the glass of Jennifer’s bedroom window.

Thirty floors up. No balcony. No ledge.

Jennifer’s breath caught. She killed the lamp and pressed herself flat against the wall, heart hammering against her ribs.

The dot paused at the center of the window.

Then it vanished.

For ten seconds, nothing. Silence so thick she could hear her own pulse.

Then a soft _thud_ against the glass.

Jennifer didn’t scream. She grabbed her phone and called the only number saved in it.

David answered on the first ring, voice already sharp. “What happened?”

“Someone’s outside my window,” she whispered. “A laser. Then a sound. I think—”

“I’m coming,” David cut her off.

Footsteps in the hall. The door opened without a knock. David was in sweatpants and a black t-shirt, hair damp, gun in his hand.

Jennifer stared. “You have a gun?”

“Security protocol,” he said, moving to the window. He didn’t turn on the light. “Stay down.”

He checked the window seal, then pulled back the curtain an inch.

“Thermal shows one person on the roof,” he said quietly. “Not on your ledge. They’re using a sniper scope.”

Jennifer’s blood ran cold. “They’re not here to threaten me.”

“No,” David said. “They’re here to kill you.”

He tapped his earpiece. “Security, roof access. Now. Lockdown floor 42.”

Within seconds, the penthouse alarms were silent but red lights flashed along the baseboards. The building was sealing itself.

David pulled Jennifer to her feet and dragged her toward the door.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Safe room,” he said. “East wing.”

Jennifer stopped dead. “No.”

“Jennifer—”

“If you wanted me safe, you wouldn’t take me to the room you’ve been hiding everything in,” she said.

David’s jaw tightened. “It’s the only room in this building rated for ballistic impact. Do you want to argue or live?”

She went.

The safe room was behind the false panel in the east wing office. Steel door, keypad, air filtration, a bed, and a wall of monitors.

David shut the door and locked it.

“They’ll be here in two minutes,” he said, pulling up the roof feed.

On screen, a figure in black was lowering a rope over the edge.

Jennifer’s hands shook. “Why me? Why now?”

“Because tonight’s press conference worked,” David said. “You’re visible. You’re protected. And that makes you a problem.”

He pointed to the monitor. “See that? That’s not Harry’s style. He wants to ruin you in public. This is quiet. Professional.”

“Then who?”

David didn’t answer. The monitors flickered.

“Someone’s in the system,” he said. “They’re trying to cut the feeds.”

The screen went black.

David cursed and pulled Jennifer down as a gunshot cracked against the safe room door.

The bullet didn’t penetrate. But the sound was deafening.

“Stay down,” David ordered, moving to the weapons locker on the wall. He pulled out a second handgun and checked the magazine.

Jennifer crouched behind the bed, trying to breathe.

“David,” she said. “If I die, will you finally tell me what’s in that safe?”

He glanced at her, then at the door as another shot hit.

“If you die, I’ll kill the person responsible,” he said. “That’s all that matters right now.”

Jennifer almost laughed. Almost.

The safe room door shuddered under another impact. The lock was holding, but not forever.

David moved to the console and typed fast.

“I’m rerouting power,” he said. “If I can’t get security up here, I’ll vent the floor with inert gas. It’ll knock him out, but it’ll also trigger a building-wide alarm.”

Jennifer nodded. “Do it.”

David’s fingers paused.

“Once I do this, there’s no hiding anymore,” he said. “The board will know. The police will know. And whoever’s behind this will know we’re done playing defense.”

“Then do it,” Jennifer said. “I didn’t sign up to hide for two years.”

David looked at her for a long moment. Then he hit enter.

A low hiss filled the room. The air changed. Cold, metallic.

On the monitor, the figure on the roof staggered, dropped the rope, and collapsed.

David exhaled.

“Floor 43 is locked down,” he said. “Security has him.”

Jennifer sat back against the bed, legs shaking.

David came to sit beside her, gun still in his hand but lowered.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No,” Jennifer said honestly. “Are you?”

David was quiet for a long time.

“No,” he said finally.

They sat in silence, listening to the distant sound of shouting and footsteps outside the door.

After ten minutes, there was a knock.

“Mr. Loriss? It’s secure,” a guard’s voice came through.

David stood and opened the door.

Two guards dragged in the shooter. Masked, black gear, no ID.

David crouched in front of him.

“Who sent you?” he asked.

The man said nothing.

David pulled off the mask.

Jennifer gasped.

It was one of Loriss Corp’s own security contractors. A guy she’d seen at the front desk twice.

David’s face went blank.

“Who paid you?” he asked, voice quiet.

The man smiled, blood on his teeth. “Too late, Loriss. She’s already dead to them.”

David hit him hard enough to make him slump.

Jennifer stood up, legs still shaky.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

David didn’t answer. He stood and turned to the safe.

He keyed in the code. The door swung open.

Inside was one thing: a USB drive in a clear evidence bag.

David picked it up and held it out to Jennifer.

“This is what your parents were killed for,” he said. “The proof of Clause 9 fraud. The names of everyone involved.”

Jennifer took it, hands trembling.

“Why now?” she asked.

“Because after tonight, I can’t protect you by hiding you anymore,” David said. “You need to see it. You need to decide what to do with it.”

Jennifer looked at the drive, then at David.

“And if I use it?” she asked.

“Then you go to war,” David said. “With me. Or without me.”

Jennifer pocketed the drive.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

David’s eyes darkened.

“With Harry,” he said. “He didn’t pull the trigger tonight. But he knew it was coming.”

Jennifer nodded.

As they left the safe room, her phone buzzed again.

Another photo.

This time it was David, standing in the safe room doorway, gun in hand.

The message:

_Your contract ends tonight. Clause 7 is in effect._

Jennifer stopped walking.

David turned back. “What is it?”

Jennifer showed him the photo.

David’s face went still.

“Clause 7,” he said quietly. “If you fall for me, the contract voids. You lose everything.”

Jennifer met his eyes.

“Do you think I have?” she asked.

David didn’t answer.

Outside, sirens wailed.

And somewhere in the building, a second shooter was moving.