My Milf Conqueror System novel Chapter 220

Chapter 220: The Blind Spot

[Jake’s POV]

The eastern wall of the Jade Palace housed the high-end restaurants and the restrooms. It was a quieter zone, heavily monitored by cameras but lightly patrolled by physical security.

The noise thinned out here. The chimes became distant, like rain on a roof. The air smelled different — less smoke, more lemon cleaner and seared steak. Soft piano music leaked from behind restaurant doors, muffled and polite. The carpet gave way to polished stone that clicked under my shoes. The lights were warmer here, but dimmer.

"Nia, I’m approaching the service corridor access door near the kitchens," I whispered. "I need a loop on the camera covering this hallway."

"Give me ten seconds," Nia replied, the rapid clicking of her keyboard echoing in my ear. "The encryption on this subnet is older. I’m pushing a static image to the security feed now. You have a sixty-second window before the system flags the frozen timestamp."

I could hear her breathing. Fast. Focused.

I didn’t break my stride. As I passed the heavy, unmarked wooden door that led to the service corridors, I reached out, grabbed the handle, and slipped inside. The transition from the loud, bright casino floor to the sterile, fluorescent-lit concrete hallway was instantaneous.

The door shut with a soft thud. The sound died.

"I’m in," I said, moving quickly down the corridor.

The hallway smelled like bleach and old grease and dish soap. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, one of them flickering every few seconds. Pipes ran along the ceiling, dripping occasionally onto the concrete. My footsteps echoed, then didn’t. The air was colder here. Stale.

"Ethan, you are clear to engage," Claire ordered over the comms.

I didn’t hear the initial commotion, but I heard the response. The heavy steel door at the far end of the service corridor—the one leading to the VIP stairs—banged open. Two Aegis contractors jogged through, their hands resting on their holstered weapons, moving fast toward the casino floor access points.

Their boots were loud on concrete. Purposeful.

"We have a Code 3 disturbance at the craps tables," one of the contractors barked into his radio. His voice bounced off the walls. "Patron is violent, possible concealed weapon. Floor security is requesting immediate backup."

Ethan was doing his job perfectly.

I pressed myself flat against the concrete wall, sliding behind a stack of empty linen carts. The metal was cold through my jacket. It smelled like detergent. The two contractors jogged past my position without looking twice, their focus entirely on the threat unfolding on the main floor. I could smell sweat and gun oil and the faint tang of coffee on one of them.

"Transit detail is holding," Nia reported. "They’ve stopped the cash cart in the restricted corridor on the second floor, waiting for the all-clear. There are only two guards remaining with the cart."

"I’m moving up," I said.

The younger contractor drew his pistol and moved cautiously toward the fire door. He pushed it open, stepping onto the landing, his weapon raised, his eyes scanning the empty stairs below.

He never looked up.

I was pressed flat against the wall directly behind the door. As he stepped past me, I moved. I grabbed the slide of his pistol with my left hand, pushing it out of battery so it couldn’t fire, and drove the heel of my right hand into the brachial plexus nerve cluster on the side of his neck.

His eyes rolled back instantly. I caught his dead weight before he could hit the floor, lowering him silently to the concrete landing. His radio crackled once and went quiet.

I stepped out from behind the door and into the corridor.

The older contractor turned, his eyes widening as he saw me standing there instead of his partner. He raised his weapon, opening his mouth to shout a warning into his radio.

I closed the thirty feet between us in less than two seconds. I didn’t try to disarm him. I slapped the barrel of his gun aside, stepping inside his guard, and delivered a brutal, precise strike to his solar plexus, followed immediately by a sweeping kick to his lead leg.

He hit the floor hard, the breath exploding from his lungs. Before he could recover, I drove my knee into his chest and pressed my thumb hard against his carotid artery. Ten seconds later, he was unconscious.

The hallway was silent again. Only the hum of the lights and my own breathing.