Chapter 2 - The Traitor Inside
Jason immediately dove across the expensive leather chairs and violently tackled the twins to the carpeted floor.
A terrifying hail of silenced bullets completely shredded his massive mahogany desk into sharp wooden splinters.
The heavy glass windows overlooking the Manhattan skyline cracked and spiderwebbed under the extreme crossfire.
Jason desperately covered the crying boys with his own body as the tactical team advanced slowly into the room.
He knew his private office possessed a heavily reinforced panic room hidden directly behind the massive bookshelf.
He aggressively grabbed Liam and Lucas by their small jackets and violently dragged them toward the secret door.
Jason frantically smashed his bloody palm against the biometric scanner hidden perfectly behind a rare first-edition book.
The heavy steel door silently slid open just as a high-caliber bullet painfully grazed his left shoulder.
He forcefully shoved the terrified twins into the dark safe room and quickly rolled in right behind them.
The thick steel door slammed shut and instantly locked with a heavy series of mechanical deadbolts.
Jason leaned heavily against the cold metal wall, gasping for air while tightly clutching his bleeding shoulder.
Lucas buried his small face deep into Jason's expensive suit jacket and began to sob uncontrollably in the dark.
Jason blindly reached out and turned on the dim emergency lights to illuminate the small concrete bunker.
"We are completely safe in here, I promise you both," Jason whispered while trying to hide his own severe pain.
He walked over to the secure communication terminal heavily mounted on the back wall of the bunker.
He urgently pressed the red emergency button to directly contact Marcus, his highly paid head of corporate security.
The video screen buzzed to life, revealing Marcus sitting calmly in the ground-floor security control room.
"Sir, we heard massive gunfire on the top floor, what is your exact status?" Marcus asked with apparent professional concern.
Jason quickly explained that heavily armed mercenaries had completely breached the executive floor.
He firmly ordered Marcus to instantly lock down the entire skyscraper and send the elite response team upstairs.
Marcus nodded slowly on the screen, but a highly disturbing, dark smile began to creep across his scarred face.
"I am terribly afraid I cannot do that today, Mr. Miller."
Jason stared at the digital screen in absolute shock as he slowly realized the terrifying truth.
Marcus casually reached over and deliberately deactivated the building's entire primary security network with a single keystroke.
"The syndicate pays significantly better than your corporate stock options ever did, Jason."
The security chief coldly explained that he had purposely let the armed hit squad bypass the lobby sensors.
"You have exactly ten minutes before they use thermal cutting torches to completely melt through that steel door."
Marcus happily waved at the camera before permanently terminating the secure video connection.
Jason was now completely trapped inside a metal box hundreds of feet in the air with his own security team hunting him.
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He desperately searched the small bunker for any kind of weapon to defend the small children.
The heavy steel door suddenly began to violently glow a bright, terrifying orange in the exact center.
