Chapter 3 - The Blast Radius
Raphael did not hesitate for a single microsecond.
He lunged across the concrete floor, grabbed Margot by the waist, and tackled her hard behind a massive steel support pillar.
"Cover your ears and open your mouth!" he shouted over her head.
Margot barely had time to follow his instructions before the world completely exploded.
The deafening roar of the C4 charge ripped through the basement, vibrating violently against her ribcage.
The heavy metal doors of the freight elevator were blown entirely off their tracks, crashing into the filing cabinets.
Dust, smoke, and burning paper filled the air, choking them both in the darkness.
Raphael's heavy body shielded her completely from the flying shrapnel and debris.
For a long moment, the only sound was the high-pitched ringing in Margot's ears and the crackle of small fires.
Raphael slowly lifted his weight off her, coughing into his sleeve as he assessed the damage.
"Are you hit?" he asked urgently, his hands quickly checking her arms for injuries.
"No, I think I'm okay," Margot gasped, coughing up a lungful of concrete dust.
Raphael pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, cutting a beam through the thick, gray smoke.
The freight elevator shaft was completely destroyed, and the concrete ceiling above it was groaning dangerously.
"They didn't just want to destroy the files; they wanted to bring the entire building down," Raphael muttered.
He helped Margot to her feet, keeping a firm, protective grip on her arm.
"We have to take the emergency stairs before the fire reaches the main electrical grid," he ordered.
They navigated through the maze of fallen boxes and burning ledgers, heading for the heavy fire door at the back of the archive.
Raphael pushed the push-bar on the door, but it refused to budge even an inch.
He hit it with his shoulder, grunting in pain, but the door remained entirely solid.
"It's magnetically sealed," Raphael realized, his face grim in the flashlight beam.
"The explosion triggered the building's ultimate lockdown protocol."
Margot felt a wave of absolute panic wash over her.
"That means we're trapped in a burning basement," she stated, her voice rising in fear.
Raphael turned off his flashlight to conserve the battery, leaving them in the dim, flickering light of the fires.
"Not just trapped," he corrected quietly, pulling his gun back out of its holster.
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"The lockdown protocol also releases the security hounds into the lower levels to deal with any intruders."
And from the darkness of the ruined elevator shaft, a low, guttural growl echoed across the concrete.
