Killing The Crown: Lethal Lies

Chapter 3: Between Heartbeats and Bullets

Autumn in Zurich is not merely about the leaves turning red; it is about a silence that begins to freeze. For Kaiden Bart, silence usually signified a threat lurking in the shadows. Lately, however, he had begun to discover a different kind of silence—something that made him want to lay down his weapons forever. In a small café on the banks of the Limmat River, that silence felt sweet because Eleanor Rose was sitting across from him.

Kai watched the way Elea sipped her café au lait. Her movements were slow, almost rhythmic, with the elegance of a woman who had never known a bloodstain on her hands. For the first time in fifteen years of living as a shadow, Kai felt something more dangerous than a .45 calibre bullet: Love.

The feeling grew like a wild plant in the cracks of concrete—unexpected, fragile, yet difficult to uproot. Every time Elea laughed, it felt like a gauze dressing for the old wounds on Kai’s body. Yet, whenever the feeling bloomed, Ethel Bowie’s baritone voice would ring in his mind, a cold echo reminding him that a pawn has no right to a heart, let alone a future.

"You are daydreaming again, Kaiden," Elea’s voice broke through his thoughts. She was looking at him with a playful glint that, for some reason, made Kai’s heart skip a beat. "What is raging inside there? Investment strategies at the bank? Or are you thinking of another woman?"

Kai gave a thin smile, an expression that now appeared naturally without being forced. "I was just thinking how peaceful this afternoon is. Sometimes I forget that life can have colours other than the grey of office buildings and the black of tarmac."

Elea set down her cup, her slender hand reaching out to touch the back of Kai’s hand. Her skin was warm, contrasting with the cold air beginning to creep in through the open door of the café. "Life is what we make of it, Kai. Not what others force upon you. You look like a man who is always carrying someone else's burden on his shoulders."

Kai almost believed those words. He almost wanted to tell her everything—about the platinum scars on his shoulder, about Ethel treating him like property, and about the scent of gunpowder that never truly left his pores. However, the vibration of the satellite phone in his coat pocket shattered the bubble of peace.

A short message from Ethel: "Paradeplatz. North Side. Eigar has made an overt move. Secure me."

Kai’s eyes changed in an instant. The warmth vanished, replaced by the cold steel he usually wore. Elea seemed to notice the shift; she withdrew her hand slowly, watching him with a look that was hard to decipher—half suspicious, half worried.

"Work?" Elea asked softly.

"Emergency meeting," Kai lied, standing up and placing a few Swiss Franc notes on the table. "I’m sorry, I have to go. I’ll call you tonight."

Kai walked out with a brisk pace, unaware that behind him, Elea was watching his back with the sharp gaze of a hunter who knew her prey had just received a call to war.

Ten minutes later, Kai was inside Ethel’s bulletproof Mercedes-Benz S-Class. In the back seat, Ethel Bowie sat with the composure of an emperor facing a rebellion. The thirty-five-year-old man looked flawless in a navy suit bespoke from London. However, his hands, gripping a digital tablet, were tense.

"Eigar tried to hijack the board of directors this afternoon, while simultaneously sending a physical message on the streets," Ethel said without looking up. "He knows I am in Zurich today to review assets. He wants to show that even in the heart of my power, I am not safe."

Kai checked the Glock-17 beneath his jacket, ensuring a round was already in the chamber. The wound in his waist, which had not yet recovered a hundred percent, throbbed as if providing an early warning. "We must head to the bunker in Zurich West immediately, Ethel. This isn't just a threat; it's an open hunt."

"Drive," Ethel commanded the chauffeur.

The car glided through the busy crowds of Paradeplatz. However, as they took a sharp turn toward the Limmat bridge, a logistics truck with a fake logo suddenly sped out from a side alley and cut them off.

CRASH!

The impact rocked Kai’s world. The airbags deployed instantly with the sound of a small explosion. Ethel’s driver was dead in seconds when a high-calibre sniper round pierced the windscreen—which was supposed to be bulletproof but failed to stop the armour-piercing ammunition—striking him squarely in the forehead.

"Get out! Now!" Kai shouted.

His killer instincts took over completely, erasing Elea’s image from his mind in a flash. Kai kicked open the mangled car door with his good leg, pulling a slightly shaken Ethel from the smoking back seat.

The world around them turned into a battlefield in seconds. Three dirt bikes emerged from the panicked crowd of civilians, their riders wearing jet-black helmets and wielding MP5 submachine guns. Bursts of gunfire tore into the car’s body, creating a rain of sparks that illuminated the darkening afternoon.

"Behind the concrete pillar, Ethel! Stay low and do not move unless I tell you!" Kai commanded with a voice that brooked no argument.

Kai stood at the front line, making himself the primary target. The right shoulder that had been destroyed six months ago flared with an incredible ache as he raised his hand to return fire. Bang! Bang! One biker toppled as Kai’s bullet found a gap beneath the helmet. But the attackers did not stop. They were highly trained men sent by Eigar.

"They are flanking us from the river side!" Ethel shouted, his voice remaining controlled even though he now held a backup SIG Sauer pistol in his hand. "Kai, if I die here, Eigar will destroy everything!"

"You won't die as long as I am still standing," Kai hissed.

A bullet grazed Kai’s left arm, tearing the fabric of the knit jumper Elea liked and leaving a searing trail across his skin. Kai did not flinch. Instead, he felt a surge of pure, lethal adrenaline. He fired blindly toward a gas pipe near one of the parked bikes, creating an explosion that provided them with a temporary veil of smoke and fire.

Kai grabbed Ethel by the shoulder, dragging the man through the hail of lead toward a small jetty beneath the bridge. Every step was agony; the old wound in his thigh felt as if it wanted to give up, but Kai forced himself to keep moving.

Two armed men emerged from behind a pile of wooden cargo. Kai lunged without hesitation, not as a man, but as a wild beast. He parried the muzzle of an opponent's weapon with his left hand, driving his elbow into the first man's jaw until the sound of crushing bone rang out, then spun his body to shoot the second man squarely in the chest. As he turned, a commando knife nearly tore his throat. Kai caught the attacker's wrist, twisting it with raw strength until the man’s radius bone protruded, then drove the knife back into its owner's stomach.

Kai’s face was now splattered with blood—blood that was not his own. He panted, his chest tight as his lungs worked beyond their limits.

"Get in the boat!" Kai shoved Ethel into a luxury Bowie family speedboat that had been stationed there for emergencies.

"You aren't coming?" Ethel looked at Kai, a strange flash in his eyes—perhaps respect, or perhaps just shock that Kai was still alive after such an assault.

"I will hold them here so you can get out of the sniper’s range. Go, Ethel! That’s an order!"

As the boat’s engine roared and cut through the water of the Limmat River, Kai stood alone on the wet jetty. The remnants of Eigar’s forces began to close in, realising their primary target had escaped. They now turned all their fury upon the single man standing before them.

Kai fired the last shot from his magazine, dropping one more man before his weapon clicked empty. He tossed the gun aside and drew a tactical knife from behind his back. Under the flickering lights of the jetty, Kai stood tall even though his body trembled from blood loss.

In his heart, he whispered the one name that was the source of his strength and his weakness. Eleanor Rose.

If he died today, at least he died knowing that in his sin-filled life, there was one afternoon where he had been loved by someone as beautiful as Elea. However, Kai had no intention of dying. He had a promise to make a phone call tonight.

While dodging the next burst of bullets that slammed into the wooden floor of the jetty, Kai took a desperate leap toward the cold, dark river. He let the swift current of the Limmat carry him away, while behind him, Paradeplatz echoed with the sound of police sirens and rising flames.

The Bowie family war had reached its peak, and Kai, with his body broken once more, swore to destroy anyone who dared disturb the short-lived peace he had only just found.