Chapter 13 - BREACH AT THE KITCHEN DOOR
A heavy boot kicked away the remaining glass fragments from the doorframe.
The first intruder—a muscular man wearing a black rain jacket and a ski mask—stepped through the broken patio door into the pitch-black kitchen, holding a bright tactical light in his left hand.
"Check the upstairs first," the intruder growled over his shoulder to his partner. "Find the drive and wipe the—"
Ethan stepped out from the shadowy pantry like an avalanche.
Before the intruder could raise his flashlight, Ethan swung his left arm with terrifying force, slamming his broad forearm into the man's chest and pinning him brutally against the granite kitchen island. The man’s breath exploded from his lungs in a sharp gasp.
The second intruder lunged forward with a collapsible baton raised.
Ethan ducked beneath the descending steel rod, drove his shoulder into the attacker’s midsection, and slammed him hard into the pantry door, shattering the wooden panels. Ethan snatched the baton out of the man's grip, twisted his arm back, and swept his legs out from under him, sending him crashing onto the tile floor.
The first man scrambled to his feet, pulling a heavy tactical knife from his belt.
"Where's the drive, Carter?!" the man snarled, lunging forward with a lateral slash toward Ethan's chest.
Ethan leaned back just enough for the blade to whistle through the empty air inches from his olive-green Henley. He caught the man’s wrist in a vise-like grip, twisted the joint downward until the knife clattered onto the tile, and delivered a short, brutal palm strike directly to the attacker's jaw.
The man collapsed onto the kitchen floor, cold and unconscious.
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At the top of the stairs, a small scream echoed through the dark house.
"DAD!"
