"Alpha team has breached the cliffside perimeter."
Mark’s voice clipped through the secure earpiece, fighting the static of the coastal storm. "The guardhouses are abandoned. We have zero thermal signatures in the tree line. The entire external security grid is powered down at the main breaker."
Standing at the base of the sweeping marble steps, Christian gripped his sidearm. Through the dense, rain-soaked forest, the massive North Shore estate sat dark. Rain battered the stone archway, but no perimeter floodlights illuminated the manicured lawns.
The heavy iron-wrought front doors had been left wide open, an unnatural, gaping mouth inviting them inside.
The sheer absence of resistance violated every tactical instinct Christian possessed. He scanned the dark windows for a sniper's glar
