Marcus looked at his daughter, his heart aching at the sheer panic in her eyes. "Maya, don't," he said softly, his voice incredibly steady despite the throbbing pain in his shoulder. "Call Miller. Tell him to get to the lobby."
Maya didn't break eye contact with Braddock as she picked up her phone with trembling hands. "You have no idea what you've just done," she whispered, her voice shaking with a terrifying, quiet rage. She dialed a number and put it on speaker.
"This is Miller," a gruff voice answered instantly. Sergeant David Miller was the Head of Building Security, a retired Marine who ran the weekday detail and oversaw all operations.
"David, it's Maya Sterling. I'm in the main lobby. One of your weekend contractors just put my father in handcuffs."
There was a dead, suffocating silence on the other end of the line. For three agonizing seconds, nothing but static filled the air. Then, the sound of a chair violently crashing to the ground echoed through the speaker. "I'm in the security control room. I'm coming down. Do not let them move him." The call disconnected. Braddock blinked, a sudden, cold bead of sweat rolling down his spine as he looked at the two younger guards, who were suddenly looking very pale.