Chapter 33 - The Siege of the Study Upstairs, the heavy oak doors of the master study slammed shut and locked with a series of automated steel deadbolts. The room was a fortress within a fortress, designed to withstand a direct mortar strike.
Dante dropped a fresh magazine into his Sig Sauer, his face cold and impassive as he checked the digital perimeter monitors built into the executive desk. Half the estate's external cameras were already blacked out, overridden by an external signal originating from a mobile command van parked outside the perimeter fence.
"They're using a quantum-frequency jammer," Leo said, his fingers flying across the auxiliary terminal as he tried to reroute the estate's remaining defense drones. "They aren't trying to break the doors down with explosives, Father. They're trying to download the biometric archive from the lower vault."
Dante stopped, his head snapping toward the boy. "The lower vault. That’s where the original genetic baseline data from the North Shore clinic is stored."
"And mother is down there," Leo added quietly, his dark eyes meeting Dante’s for a fraction of a second before returning to the screen. "She went down to secure the physical ledgers before the EMP hit."
Dante didn't hesitate. He reached into the hidden wall compartment behind the mahogany bookcase and pulled out a heavy-barreled assault carbine, sliding the sling over his shoulder. He handed a secondary tactical vest to Leo, securing the straps tightly across the boy’s chest.
"We're not waiting for them to breach," Dante said, his voice dropping into that terrifying, sub-zero register. "We're going down."
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"The secret service hatch behind the fireplace," Leo pointed out instantly, already sliding the hidden panel open with practiced ease. "It bypasses the main stairwells where their sniper teams are positioned."
Dante looked at his son—not as a child caught in a war, but as a true equal, forged in the exact same fire. "Move."
