Chapter 5 - The Silent Alarm
The feeling of absolute betrayal washed over me as the mercenary commander smiled wickedly.
He had never intended to let us walk out of this underground bunker alive.
"You gave me your word," Sofia cried out, struggling weakly against the massive man's grip.
"My word is only as good as my next paycheck, sweetheart," he whispered cruelly into her ear.
My grandfather groaned on the floor, the antidote slowly restoring color to his pale face.
"Julian, the cane," Ernesto rasped weakly, pointing a trembling finger toward the wooden stick I had dragged along with him.
I looked down at the polished walnut cane resting near my boots on the tile floor.
I dove for it, fully expecting the mercenaries to fill my back with bullets immediately.
Instead of shooting, the commander laughed as I grabbed the seemingly harmless piece of wood.
"What are you going to do, kid, hit me with a stick?" he mocked loudly.
I gripped the silver handle of the cane and twisted it violently to the right, just as Ernesto had taught me years ago.
A hidden button clicked, and a deafening, high-frequency alarm instantly shattered the silence of the bunker.
The sound was so piercing that the mercenaries dropped their weapons to cover their bleeding ears.
I pulled the silver handle completely off, revealing a razor-sharp hidden blade concealed inside the wood.
I lunged forward, slashing the commander across his forearm to force him to release Sofia.
He screamed in agony, stumbling backward as blood poured from the deep wound.
"Run to the vault," I yelled to Sofia over the unbearable, screeching noise of the alarm.
We sprinted past the incapacitated guards, reaching the massive titanium vault door at the end of the hall.
Sofia rapidly punched a twelve-digit code into the glowing keypad, her fingers flying with practiced precision.
The heavy steel door groaned and hissed, slowly swinging open to reveal the Alvarez family's darkest secrets.
We rushed inside and pushed the heavy door shut, locking it firmly from the inside.
We were finally safe from the mercenaries, but the vault was incredibly cold and completely cut off from the outside world.
I turned on the emergency lights, expecting to see stacks of gold bars and rare diamonds.
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Instead, the massive room was entirely empty, except for a single wooden chair sitting in the dead center.
And sitting in that chair, bound and gagged with heavy duct tape, was my mother, who I thought had died ten years ago.
