Chapter 11 - In the Crosshairs
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Inside the underground panic room, the sound of gunfire vibrated through the reinforced concrete walls like muffled thunder.
Mrs. Alvarez was huddled in the corner, clutching a rosary while two young maids wept uncontrollably in fear.
Emma paced the narrow room, her mind racing faster than the adrenaline coursing through her veins.
She looked at the internal security monitor mounted on the bunker wall.
The camera in the main entrance hall showed four heavily armed mercenaries advancing toward the grand staircase.
Dominic was fighting upstairs, cutting off the secondary assault team, but the east wing was completely exposed.
On the monitor, Emma watched a shadowy figure kick open the heavy oak door leading from the wine cellar.
It was Marcus Vance, carrying a semi-automatic shotgun, accompanied by two ruthless thugs in tactical gear.
They were heading straight toward the power junction box that controlled the bunker’s hydraulic ventilation system.
If they cut the ventilation, everyone inside the panic room would suffocate within thirty minutes.
"I have to stop them," Emma said, stepping toward the emergency release override on the wall.
"Miss Collins, you cannot go out there! You will be killed!" Mrs. Alvarez cried out, grabbing Emma’s arm in desperation.
"If I stay in this box, we all die anyway," Emma answered firmly, pulling her arm free.
Emma grabbed a heavy steel fire extinguisher mounted beside the doorway and entered the override code.
The heavy blast door hissed open, and Emma slipped out into the darkened, smoke-filled basement corridor.
She knew every inch of this mansion better than the mercenaries because she had spent weeks cleaning every dark corner.
Emma crept silently along the stone hallway, reaching the main electrical fuse room just as Marcus approached the master switch.
Without hesitating, Emma slammed the heavy fire extinguisher against the primary circuit breaker with all her might.
Sparks exploded into the corridor in a blinding shower of blue and white fire.
The entire mansion plunged into total, absolute darkness.
"What the hell was that?!" one of Marcus's men shouted, his flashlight beam cutting frantically through the blackness.
Emma darted behind a stone archway, using the darkness as her shield, but her shoe kicked an empty glass bottle on the floor.
The clatter echoed loudly through the stone chamber.
"Over there!" Marcus barked, racking his shotgun.
A powerful flashlight beam swept across the corridor, pinning Emma against the damp brick wall like a trapped doe.
Marcus strode toward her with a triumphant, sickening laugh that turned her blood to ice.
"Look what we have here," Marcus sneered, leveling the barrel of his shotgun straight at her chest.
"The brave little maid who thought she could audit a king."
Emma stood tall, refusing to beg, her chin lifted high in the glare of the flashlight.
"Dominic is going to bury you beneath this cellar, Marcus."
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Marcus grinned, resting his finger against the cold metal trigger.
"Dominic will be too busy scraping your brains off the floor to worry about his kingdom."
