Chapter 5 - THE SIEGE FROM WITHINAbove us, the dull, heavy thud of explosive charges shook the ground.
Boom.
Dust rained down from the ceiling tiles of the panic room. On the main monitor, the heavy oak doors of the mansion’s grand foyer blew inward in a shower of splintered wood and fire. Thomas Vance walked through the smoke, his tactical gear spotless, a chilling smile plastered across his face. He looked straight up into the primary dome camera—the one feeding directly into our secret bunker.
He knew we were watching.
"Matteo!" Thomas’s amplified voice echoed through the estate’s intercom system, bouncing down the ventilation shafts. "We both know you can't stay down there forever. The bunker's air filtration system runs on an external intake valve on the north lawn. My men are planting a chemical payload on it right now. You have three minutes to hand over the nurse and the boy, or you choke on neurotoxin."
Leo stirred in the crib, letting out a soft, frightened cry.
I rushed over, scooping him into my arms, pressing his face into my neck to block out the noise. My mind raced at a thousand miles per hour. A chemical payload. If they hit the intake, we had seconds before the air turned toxic.
"There's another way out," I said, looking frantically around the server racks. "Every bunker built to architectural code in Chicago requires an emergency drainage pipe leading to the storm sewers."
"It's welded shut," Matteo replied flatly, already unlatching a heavy metal case filled with military-grade explosives and detonators. "Standard protocol to prevent gas attacks from flooding the tunnels."
"Then we blow it," I snapped back, adrenaline overriding every ounce of fear. "You're a mob boss with an armory in your basement, act like it!"
Matteo stared at me for a split second, a sudden, fierce flash of respect—or maybe madness—lighting up his eyes. A sharp, dangerous grin broke across his face.
"Remind me never to play poker with you, Elena."
He tossed me a Kevlar vest. "Put this on. Now."
"What about Leo?"
"I carry him," Matteo said, his voice dropping all hesitation. He slapped a breaching charge onto the reinforced steel plate at the base of the drainage tunnel, wired the digital keypad, and grabbed a submachine gun from the rack. "When this goes, the shockwave is going to deafen us. Stay behind me, no matter what."
He looked back at the monitors. Thomas Vance was counting down the seconds on the live feed.
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"Time's up, Matteo," Thomas whispered through the camera lens.
Matteo didn't hesitate. He pressed the detonator.
