Chapter 7 - No Way Out
The blinding orange sparks rained down onto the floor as the blowtorch sliced through the reinforced steel like hot butter.
Luca shoved me safely behind him, raising his pistol with a steady, lethal grip as he aimed directly at the melting lock.
“Take the boy and go through the emergency floor hatch,” Luca commanded the housekeeper, never taking his eyes off the door.
The older woman immediately grabbed Leo and quickly disappeared down a hidden ladder beneath a heavy rug.
“You need to go with them right now,” Luca ordered me, his commanding voice leaving absolutely no room for argument.
“I am not leaving you here to die alone!” I yelled over the deafening scream of the cutting torch.
Before we could argue further, the heavy vault door gave way, crashing inward with a thick cloud of toxic gray smoke.
Luca opened fire instantly, dropping the first two heavily armed mercenaries who tried to blindly rush into the small room.
The narrow doorway became a fatal bottleneck, buying us exactly three seconds of precious time.
Luca grabbed my waist and literally threw me down the open escape hatch into the dark tunnel below.
He jumped down right after me, pulling the heavy metal grate shut and locking it from the inside just as bullets rained down above us.
We scrambled through the damp, narrow pipeline, crawling on our hands and knees until we finally reached the exit.
We emerged into the freezing, pouring rain in the dense woods far behind the main estate.
The housekeeper was waiting for us, completely out of breath and shivering violently as she held the crying baby.
I took Leo from her tired arms, wrapping him tightly in my jacket to protect him from the bitter cold.
“There is a secondary extraction point two miles from here,” Luca shouted over the roaring thunder.
We ran through the thick mud and tangled branches, fighting for our lives in the unforgiving darkness of the severe storm.
Luca stumbled several times, the blood loss from his untreated gunshot wound finally taking a massive toll on his immense strength.
I grabbed his arm, supporting his heavy weight as we pushed through the final clearing toward an abandoned hunting cabin.
A black SUV was already waiting there with its headlights off, blending perfectly into the shadowy trees.
We rushed toward the vehicle, desperately believing that our terrifying nightmare was finally coming to an end.
A tall figure stepped out of the driver's side, casually holding a high-powered sniper rifle in his hands.
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A flash of bright lightning illuminated the man's face, making my blood run absolutely cold with pure shock.
It was Greg, the strict, boring manager of the Aurelia restaurant.
