Chapter 8 - THE TRAP IN THE CELLARWhile the battle raged upstairs, a terrifying discovery was made beneath the manor.
Inside the dark, subterranean wine cellar leading to the panic room, two Chicago mercenaries who had bypassed the main hall were crawling through the ventilation shafts.
CLANG!
The iron vent cover crashed onto the wine cellar floor.
Inside the reinforced panic room, Sophia heard the loud metallic bang through the security monitors. Her blood ran cold.
On the screen, she saw two armed men in black tactical gear setting heavy C4 explosive charges directly onto the titanium door of the panic room!
"Mama..." Lucas whispered, holding three-year-old Emma close to his chest in the corner of the room. "Are the bad men going to break the door?"
Sophia looked at the digital timer on the explosive charge on the monitor screen:
00:45... 00:44... 00:43...
They had forty-three seconds before the blast blew the panic room door open.
Sophia looked at her children, then at the wall emergency control panel beside her.
As a former housekeeper who had spent six months cleaning every corner of the estate, she knew something the mercenaries didn't. This wine cellar had been built during Prohibition, equipped with an industrial carbon-dioxide fire suppression system designed to smother chemical fires instantly.
Sophia didn't hesitate.
She reached out and smashed the red glass cover on the wall, pulling the heavy yellow lever marked:
EMERGENCY CO2 FLOOD — MANUAL OVERRIDE.
SHRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
High-pressure carbon dioxide gas roared through the cellar vents outside the panic room, instantly displacing all oxygen in the wine cellar!
On the monitor screen, the two mercenaries suddenly gasped for air, dropping their weapons, clutching their throats as their knees buckled. Within fifteen seconds, both men collapsed unconscious onto the stone floor!
The explosive timer halted:
DISARMED DUE TO ATMOSPHERIC DEPRESSURIZATION.
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Sophia fell to her knees, weeping with relief, wrapping her arms around Lucas and Emma.
"We're safe," Sophia sobbed, kissing their foreheads. "We're safe!"
