Chapter 6 - The Breach at the Manor
"Who is coming?!" Hannah stood up, panic gripping her chest as Lily woke up with a start, whimpering at the sudden loud noises. Grace and Emma began to cry in the corner.
"The men who killed my wife," Dominic replied, his voice terrifyingly calm as he handed a secure satellite phone to Vance. "Take the girls and Miss Mercer through the panic room corridor behind the library. Do not stop until you reach the safehouse vehicle in the lower grotto."
"I'm not leaving you here!" Hannah shouted over the wailing children, grabbing Dominic's forearm. His skin felt hot, muscles rigid as iron beneath his shirt.
"If you want to live long enough to find out who you really are, you listen to me right now," Dominic commanded, his dark eyes locking onto hers with fierce intensity. He pulled a small, heavy steel key from around his neck and pressed it into her palm. "Take my girls, Hannah. Protect them. That is an order."
Before she could argue, the front of the mansion shuddered under the deafening blast of a heavy explosive charge. Shards of stained glass rained down from the foyer ceiling as smoke billowed through the hallways. Gunfire erupted—sharp, rapid-fire cracks of automatic weapons echoing against the stone walls.
Vance grabbed Hannah by the shoulder, hauling her toward the bookshelf in the corner of the study. He twisted a brass sconce, and a massive section of the mahogany wall swung inward, revealing a dark, steel-reinforced staircase leading down into the bowels of the estate.
"Move! Now!" Vance barked, scooping up Grace and Emma while Hannah clutched Lily tightly to her chest.
Hannah glanced back one last time before entering the dark corridor. Through the smoke of the burning study, she saw Dominic step out into the hallway, dual firearms raised, his face a mask of cold, lethal fury as he fired into the oncoming cloud of smoke. The heavy steel door of the panic room slammed shut behind them, plunging the escape tunnel into pitch-black darkness, illuminated only by the emergency red backup strips along the floor.
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They ran down the winding concrete steps, the sound of gunfire fading above them into a dull, rhythmic thud. Hannah’s lungs burned, her heart hammering against her ribs, but she focused entirely on the three little girls sobbing in their arms.
"We're okay, babies, we're okay," Hannah whispered fiercely, tears streaming down her face as she carried Lily through the subterranean maze toward the unknown.
