Chapter 15: The Golden Cage
The heavy steel threshold sealed behind them with a muffled pneumatic click, severing the howl of the coastal gale and leaving only the low, ambient hum of the estate's internal climate control. Rowan Mercer did not guide Piper toward the main corridor where the primary command consoles overlooked the grounds. Instead, he steered her past a reinforced bulkhead into the eastern perimeter corridor, an isolated quadrant designed to function as an independent containment zone.
The hallway was lined with smooth composite panels, free of decorative moldings or exterior viewports. Thick acoustic doors were set flush against the walls at thirty-foot intervals, each equipped with an independent magnetic locking plate and an optical card reader.
"The main residential l
