Chapter 5 - The Trapdoor
I didn't waste a single second questioning how the child knew about the hidden door.
I hauled Elena to her feet, supporting most of her dead weight against my shoulder.
"Show me," I ordered Mia, keeping my voice barely audible over the roaring helicopter above.
Mia darted through the thick briar patch with surprising agility, seemingly immune to the sharp thorns.
Beneath a pile of rotting wood and dead leaves, a heavy iron ring was set into a concrete slab.
I grabbed the rusted ring with my free hand and pulled with all my remaining strength.
The heavy door groaned loudly as it swung open, revealing a pitch-black vertical shaft.
"Go down the ladder," I told Mia, and she immediately vanished into the dark hole without hesitation.
I carefully lowered Elena down next, climbing in right behind her and pulling the heavy door shut.
The deafening noise of the helicopter was instantly muffled by feet of solid earth and concrete.
I pulled a small tactical flashlight from my belt and clicked it on.
The narrow beam revealed a long, reinforced concrete tunnel stretching into the darkness.
This wasn't just an old prohibition-era rum-running tunnel.
The walls were lined with modern tactical gear, canned food, and high-grade medical supplies.
"You built a bunker," I said, looking at Elena with profound disbelief.
She leaned heavily against the cold damp wall, clutching her bleeding shoulder.
"I wasn't just a mechanic before I met your brother," she confessed, her voice echoing softly.
"I was the contract killer hired by the Russian syndicate to execute Lorenzo."
I raised my gun instinctively, pointing it directly at her face.
"But I fell in love with him instead," she sobbed, sliding slowly down the wall to the floor.
"We faked his death to escape the life, but someone found him anyway."
I stared at the woman who had mothered my niece, realizing she was far more dangerous than I knew.
She had spent the last six years preparing for this exact apocalyptic scenario.
"We need to move," Elena urged, struggling to push herself back up.
Before I could offer her a hand, a tiny red dot suddenly appeared on her chest.
May you like
I whipped my head around to stare down the long, dark corridor of the tunnel.
A laser sight was cutting cleanly through the absolute darkness, painting a deadly target right over her heart.
