Chapter 9 - The Siege
The vault plunged into absolute, terrifying darkness.
The hiss of the toxic gas grew louder by the second.
Marcus had apparently triggered a lethal fail-safe upon his death.
"Cover your face!" Dominic yelled over the hissing noise.
Norah pressed the remaining silk of her dress over her nose and mouth.
The gas smelled faintly of bitter almonds and burning sulfur.
Dominic dragged himself across the floor in the dark, feeling the wall for the emergency control panel.
"The electronic override is dead," Dominic coughed, his breathing becoming labored.
"Is there a manual release?" Norah asked, her eyes watering intensely.
"Yes, but it is located beneath the floor grate in the center of the room."
Norah dropped to her hands and knees, frantically feeling the smooth marble floor.
Her fingers brushed against the heavy iron grooves of the drainage grate.
"I found it!" she cried out.
Dominic crawled over to her, his strength fading fast from the blood loss.
Together, they pulled with all their remaining energy on the heavy iron cover.
With a loud scrape, the grate lifted away.
Inside the narrow hole was a large, rusted wheel mechanism.
Norah grabbed the wheel and tried to turn it, but it was completely rusted shut.
Her lungs burned with every shallow breath she took.
Dominic placed his bloody hands over hers, adding his brute strength to the effort.
"On three," he gasped.
"One, two, three!"
They pulled with a desperate, agonizing force.
The rusted metal shrieked loudly, and the wheel finally spun free.
The hissing from the ceiling instantly stopped.
The heavy steel lockdown doors groaned and slowly began to rise.
Fresh, clean air rushed into the dark vault, saving their lives.
Dominic's loyal enforcers flooded into the room, sweeping the area with flashlights.
A team of private medics rushed forward with a stretcher to treat Dominic's wound.
As they loaded him onto the gurney, Dominic refused to let go of Norah's hand.
"You are safe now," he promised her.
May you like
But as they carried him out of the vault, Norah noticed something hidden beneath Marcus's dead hand.
It was a blinking detonator, counting down its final sixty seconds.
