Chapter 7 - The Burning Breath
The acrid smell of industrial chemical gas burned Sadie’s throat like swallowed fire.
Her eyes watered so heavily she could barely see the concrete floor beneath her hands.
Callum dropped to the ground beside her, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing it over her mouth.
He knew this specific neurotoxin; they had less than three minutes before their lungs collapsed entirely.
Callum scanned the sealed vault, his mind racing through impossible calculations.
The bulletproof glass protecting Liam and the Marcano boss was rated for military-grade assault rifles.
The steel shutters over the main door were wired to an external electrical grid.
Callum noticed a heavy oxygen tank sitting near a welding station in the corner of the room.
He dragged Sadie toward the corner, keeping her as low to the ground as possible.
He grabbed a heavy steel wrench and struck the valve of the oxygen tank, breaking it off completely.
Highly pressurized oxygen hissed violently into the gas-filled room.
Callum pulled a silver lighter from his coat pocket and flicked it open.
He shoved Sadie behind a thick concrete pillar and yelled at her to cover her ears.
He threw the lit lighter directly into the stream of highly compressed oxygen.
The resulting explosion blew the steel shutters off their hinges with a deafening roar.
The shockwave threw Callum backward, slamming his shoulder brutally against the concrete wall.
Fresh air rushed into the vault, dispersing the deadly white gas into the corridor.
Callum hauled Sadie to her feet, his left arm hanging limply at his side.
They stumbled out of the shattered doorway, coughing violently as they reached the basement hallway.
Dante and five heavily armed Marcano soldiers were waiting for them at the top of the stairs.
Gunfire erupted instantly, shredding the wooden crates around them into splinters.
Callum fired back with his good arm, dropping two of the soldiers in quick succession.
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He shoved Sadie toward the loading dock exit, completely exposing his own back to the line of fire.
A stray bullet tore cleanly through Callum’s right thigh, dropping him to the cold concrete floor.
