Chapter 4 - The Panic Room
The sudden click of the gun's hammer echoing in the sterile room sent a massive surge of adrenaline through Danielle's veins.
She moved instinctively to shield Ethan, her body reacting faster than her logical mind could process the betrayal of her closest protector.
But Ethan was already moving, his hand slipping into his pocket to retrieve a small, modified lithium battery he had stolen from the plane.
With incredible precision, the teenager smashed the battery violently against the metallic edge of the examination table.
A blinding, intense flash of chemical sparks erupted into the air, temporarily blinding Marcus and forcing him to fire wildly into the ceiling.
"Run!" Ethan shouted, grabbing Danielle's wrist and dragging her toward the heavy titanium door of the estate's panic room at the end of the hall.
Danielle punched her biometric code into the keypad just as Marcus recovered his vision and sprinted toward them.
The massive steel door hissed shut, locking into place mere seconds before Marcus slammed his full body weight against the exterior.
Inside the bunker, the emergency lights flickered on, casting eerie shadows across the monitors that displayed the mansion's security feeds.
Danielle collapsed against the cold wall, gasping for breath as she tried to comprehend that her own security chief was trying to assassinate them.
Ethan did not panic, but instead immediately began typing rapid commands into the bunker's central computer terminal.
"How did you know to do that with the battery?" Danielle asked, staring at her brilliant son in pure amazement.
"I have spent the last month running from the people who murdered my adoptive mother," Ethan said without looking away from the screen.
He brought up a hidden financial ledger on the monitor, highlighting a series of massive wire transfers.
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"Marcus didn't just take a contract today, Danielle," Ethan explained, his voice chillingly steady for a sixteen-year-old.
"He is the exact same man who wired the hitman's payment the night my adoptive mother was run off the road."
