Chapter 5 - The Safe Room
The heavy steel door of the panic room shuddered violently from an external impact.
Julian pushed Emily behind him and drew a heavy handgun from his shoulder holster.
"Cover Lily's eyes," Julian ordered Emily without looking back.
Emily pulled the terrified little girl into her chest and buried Lily's face in her shoulder.
The digital keypad on the door beeped rapidly as someone input the master override code.
"Julian, who else knows that code?" Emily asked frantically.
"Only my younger brother, Marcus," Julian gritted out through clenched teeth.
The hydraulic locks hissed loudly, and the heavy door slowly began to swing open.
Julian raised his weapon, fully prepared to shoot whoever stepped through the threshold.
But the doorway was completely empty.
Instead, a small, heavily modified drone hovered into the room, carrying a live explosive charge.
"Get down!" Julian screamed, diving toward the metallic machine.
He grabbed a heavy steel chair and smashed the drone violently out of the air.
The explosive charge detached and skidded across the floor toward Emily.
Julian threw his own body directly over the explosive just as it detonated.
The blast was relatively small, but the shockwave threw Julian hard against the concrete wall.
He slumped to the floor, bleeding heavily from a new wound on his forehead.
A man slowly stepped into the doorway, clapping his hands together in a slow, mocking rhythm.
It was Marcus Mercer, Julian's younger brother, dressed perfectly in a white suit.
"I always knew your noble instincts would be your downfall, brother," Marcus sneered.
Two heavily armed mercenaries filed into the room behind Marcus, aiming their rifles at Emily.
"You sold us out to the Volkov family," Julian choked out, trying desperately to stand up.
"The Volkovs offered me the entire Syndicate, Julian," Marcus smiled cruelly.
May you like
He pointed a silver pistol directly at Lily's head.
"Now, give me the encrypted ledger, or I will kill your adorable daughter right here."
