Chapter 6 - The Trap Below
The force of the blast threw Nathaniel to the ground.
A thick cloud of black smoke billowed from the basement windows.
Marcus had planted explosives to ensure the evidence was destroyed, regardless of the demolition.
"Grace!" Nathaniel screamed, scrambling to his feet.
He ignored the shouting federal agents and ran blindly back into the crumbling structure.
The hallway was a nightmare of twisted metal, shattered wood, and roaring flames.
He found the basement door completely blocked by a collapsed ceiling beam.
He grabbed the burning hot wood with his bare hands and pushed with every ounce of his strength.
His skin blistered, but he managed to shift the beam just enough to squeeze through.
He tumbled down the concrete stairs into absolute darkness.
"Grace!" he coughed, choking on the thick, toxic smoke.
"Over here!" a faint voice called out from the far corner.
Nathaniel crawled across the debris-covered floor until he found them.
Grace was huddled over the children, using her own body to shield them from falling rocks.
"Are they hurt?" Nathaniel asked, his voice shaking with terror.
"Just scared," Grace replied, coughing violently.
"But the stairs are blocked, and the smoke is getting thicker."
Nathaniel frantically searched the walls with the flashlight app on his phone.
He spotted an old, rusted coal chute that led up to the street level.
"We have to climb up through there," he ordered, lifting the first child into the narrow tunnel.
Grace helped him boost the children up, one by one, until only the two of them remained.
Flames began licking the walls of the basement, raising the temperature to an unbearable level.
Nathaniel lifted Grace toward the chute, his arms trembling from exhaustion.
"Go," he demanded.
She grabbed the edge of the tunnel but refused to pull herself up.
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"I am not leaving without you," she cried, reaching a hand down toward him.
Suddenly, the concrete floor beneath Nathaniel’s feet cracked open, and he plummeted into a hidden sub-basement.
