Salt Kiss – Episode 33
Tristan covered Isolde with his body while glass scattered across the carpet. A second round struck the wall, proving the shooter had adjusted for movement.
“Stay low,” he ordered. Isolde obeyed without panic, crawling behind the stone fireplace while Tristan drew his weapon.
The estate guards shouted conflicting commands outside. Their confusion told Tristan the attack had begun from within the perimeter.
He fired through the broken window toward the muzzle flash, forcing the shooter back. Then he pulled Isolde toward the service corridor described in the estate plans.
“My father—” she began.
“His team will secure him. You are the target I can reach.”
A guard appeared at the end of the corridor and raised his weapon. Tristan saw the wrong identification patch and fired first, striking the man’s shoulder.
Isolde stared at the fallen guard. “He has worked here for years.”
“Not for you today.” Tristan took the man’s access card and guided her through a locked service exit.
Their assigned vehicle erupted in flames before they reached it. Tristan changed direction, commandeering a grounds truck while bullets tore through the garden wall.
Isolde climbed into the passenger seat and retrieved the emergency weapon from beneath it without being told. Her hands shook, but she checked the safety correctly.
“Do you know how to use that?”
“My father believes every Laurence should know how to survive the enemies he creates.”
They broke through a maintenance gate as armed vehicles closed from behind. Tristan drove off-road until the estate disappeared beyond the trees.
Only after changing vehicles at a prepared location did he notice blood on Isolde’s sleeve. A shard of glass had cut her upper arm.
“It’s nothing,” she insisted.
“That decision belongs to the medic.” Tristan called Mark through an encrypted line and reported that they were alive.
Mark’s relief was audible, followed by a command to bring Isolde directly to Washington. Tristan looked at the road behind them and knew the compromised estate made the obvious route impossible. “Not yet,” he said, ending the call before Mark could object.