Chapter 13 - The Panic RoomThe steel door of the safe house panic room stood half-open, casting a narrow beam of white light across the carpet.
"Chloe!" I gasped, stumbling through the doorway.
Chloe was sitting on a narrow cot, clutching a stuffed rabbit to her chest. A federal medic was kneeling beside her, checking her pulse. When he turned around, the flashlight in his hand illuminated his face.
It wasn't the young medic who had accompanied us from the warehouse.
It was a man with a jagged scar running from his ear down to his collarbone, wearing a stolen medical uniform that was a size too small.
"Well, well," the scarred man smiled, his teeth flashing white in the dim light. "The grandmother with the briefcase. Right on cue."
I froze, instinctively pulling the heavy leather case behind my back. "Stay away from her!"
"Drop the case, old woman, and step away from the child," the man commanded smoothly, drawing a silenced pistol from his coat pocket and leveling it squarely at my chest. "Or I put a bullet through the little girl's head right now, and then yours."
Chloe whimpered, burying her face in the pillow. "Grandma..."
My mind raced at lightning speed. I looked at the heavy steel door of the panic room. It was equipped with an electronic hydraulic seal designed to lock automatically from the inside in case of a breach. The control pad was right beside the door frame, within arm's reach if I lunged sideways.
"You think you've won?" I stalled, taking a slow step forward to draw his attention away from the control pad. "The FBI is outside. The whole perimeter is surrounded."
The scarred man laughed softly, a harsh, grating sound. "The FBI? Outside? Look out the reinforced glass monitor, grandma."
He glanced away for a fraction of a second toward the wall screen.
That was my only chance.
With a sudden, explosive burst of energy I didn't know I possessed, I hurled the heavy leather briefcase directly into his face, blinding him momentarily, and slammed my hand down onto the red emergency lockdown button on the wall.
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Whirrrrr-clunk!
The massive steel door slammed shut with bone-crushing speed, sealing the panic room instantly. A muffled oath echoed from the other side, followed immediately by the dull thud of a bullet embedding itself deep into the thick steel exterior.
