Chapter 79 Lockdown Protocol

• The darkness in the hall was absolute. There was no light from the windows, no glow from the fireplace except the dim red embers at the bottom of the stone hearth. A second shot rang out, then a third, echoing off the stone walls and giving birth to chaos: screams, the sound of bodies colliding with furniture, shattering porcelain.
• "Don't shoot!" someone shouted. "You'll hit our own people!"
• Aleksander did not hesitate for a second. He leaped toward the sofa where Rania sat, threw himself in front of her as a shield, and pulled her down to the floor behind the velvet backrest.