Chapter 7 - The Final ProtocolA blinding blue light exploded through the hallway as the thermite burned at four thousand degrees, vaporizing the electrical junction in a second.
Every light in the basement died instantly. Emergency alarms shrieked through the darkness as thick, black smoke began to fill the concrete corridor.
The tactical soldiers opened fire blindly into the dark, muzzle flashes illuminating the chaos like a terrifying strobe light. Bullets pinged off the concrete walls and iron doors, ricocheting through the narrow hallway.
I didn't run away from them. I ran toward them.
Driven by pure, primal adrenaline, I tackled the nearest soldier, ripping his assault rifle from his hands and using his body as a shield against the hail of gunfire. I emptied the weapon into the darkness, taking down three men before the magazine ran dry.
I dropped the rifle, drew my tactical knife, and drove it through the neck of a fourth guard.
Victoria shouted orders over the gunfire, her voice finally losing its icy composure, replaced by furious panic. “Kill him! Do not let him reach the vault key!”
I spun around through the blinding smoke, catching the wrist of the fifth soldier as he tried to raise his sidearm. I twisted his arm until the bone snapped, snatched the master key card out of Victoria’s hand as she tried to fire at me, and slammed her backward against the iron wall.
The pearl-handled revolver clattered into the smoke.
I pinned my mother against the cold concrete, my hand wrapped tightly around her neck. The emergency backup lights flickered on, casting a deep, blood-red glow over the entire hallway.
Her eyes were wide, staring up at me not with authority, but with the sudden, terrible realization that the monster she had built was no longer under her control.
“Matteo...” she choked out, her hands clawing at my wrists. “I... I gave you life...”
“You gave me a cage,” I growled, my voice shaking with decades of buried rage. “And today... the cage breaks.”
I didn't kill her.
I slammed her head against the wall just hard enough to knock her unconscious, letting her body slump onto the blood-soaked floor.
I turned back to the vault door, swiping the golden master key card through the electronic reader.
The heavy locks disengaged with a loud pneumatic hiss. The iron door swung wide open.
Inside, Grace was crouched on the floor, holding the tiny baby tightly against her chest, her chains hanging loose—she had managed to use the broken metal from the server racks to pick the old locks while I was fighting outside.
She looked up, her eyes wide with terror, until she saw me standing in the doorway, covered in blood, smoke, and sweat.
“Matteo!” she cried out, trying to stand up on her weak legs.
I rushed into the room, catching her before she fell. I wrapped my arms around both of them—around the woman who had lied to me to save me, and the tiny, fragile child who was breathing softly against her neck.
“Is he... is he okay?” I asked, my hands shaking as I gently touched the baby’s tiny, soft face.
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The milky film over the child’s eyes was gone. His eyes were dark, clear, and focused on me, his small hand reaching out to grab my bloody thumb.
“He’s alive, Matteo,” Grace sobbed, pressing her forehead against mine. “He’s just a baby. He’s our baby.”
