Chapter 9 - Infiltration in the Rain
Midnight brought a torrential downpour that battered the leaded glass windows of the DeMarco mansion.
Inside the subterranean safe room, Natalie sat awake, listening to the muffled rumble of thunder overhead.
She could not shake the heavy sense of foreboding that gnawed relentlessly at the edges of her mind.
The digital clock on the bedside table glowed a harsh neon blue: 01:15 AM.
Suddenly, the soft hum of the bunker’s ventilation system cut out entirely.
The overhead lights flickered once, twice, and then plunged the entire safe room into absolute darkness.
Natalie gasped, her hands flying to her abdomen as her survival instincts surged to the surface.
A second later, a dim amber emergency light flickered on near the reinforced steel door.
She pushed herself up from the sofa, moving silently toward the far corner of the room.
The keypad beside the heavy door beeped softly once, twice, three times.
Someone outside was attempting to override the biometric security system using an administrative bypass code.
BEEP. ERROR.
The red light flashed angrily.
A muffled voice echoed through the thick steel from the corridor outside.
“Open the door, Natalie,” a familiar, sneering voice called out from the darkness.
It wasn't Ryan.
It wasn't Arthur Caldwell.
It was Dominic Vance.
“I know you’re in there,” Dominic’s voice purred with sadistic amusement through the intercom speaker.
“My little brother Julian was awfully upset about his broken knee.”
“Salvatore Moretti, however, is going to be exceptionally generous once I hand you over to him.”
Natalie backed away until her spine pressed flat against the cold concrete wall.
She had no weapon, no escape route, and no way to contact the upper levels.
She was completely trapped in a subterranean cage.
Outside the door, the sound of heavy machinery began to whine.
Dominic was using a portable plasma cutter to burn through the reinforced steel hinges.
A shower of blinding white sparks began to spray through the micro-cracks around the doorframe.
Natalie squeezed her eyes shut, whispering a desperate prayer as the smell of burning metal filled the air.
May you like
Suddenly, the grinding noise stopped abruptly.
A muffled shout echoed down the corridor, followed instantly by the deafening crack of a silenced gunshot.
