Chapter 14 - Breach of the Safe RoomSparks showered from the top corner of the steel door as the searing blue flame of a plasma cutter ate through the heavy metal hinges.
"They found us!" Lily shrieked, burying her face in Clara’s lap.
"David, block the door!" Clara yelled, jumping up and grabbing a heavy steel workbench, sliding it across the floor to barricade the entrance. David joined her, throwing his entire weight against the metal barrier just as the top hinge snapped with a deafening screech.
The heavy door sagged inward. Through the widening gap, a tactical operative in black combat gear shoved the barrel of a suppressed assault rifle inside, firing a burst of rounds that buried themselves into the concrete wall inches from David's head.
"Give up the children and the research data, Vance!" a cold, digitized voice barked from the hallway. "You can't outrun the network!"
David looked around the room in frantic desperation. There had to be another way out. His eyes landed on a heavy ventilation shaft grate located near the ceiling in the back corner of the room.
"Clara! Get the kids up into the vent!" David shouted, picking up a heavy iron fire extinguisher from the wall bracket.
Clara didn't hesitate. She hoisted Lily up, pushing her through the rusty metal grate into the dark ductwork above, then carefully passed baby Tommy up into her arms.
"David, come on!" Clara screamed, extending her hand down from the opening.
Outside, the door finally gave way with a violent crash as the entire steel barrier was kicked inward by the mercenaries.
David didn't run immediately. Instead, he gripped the heavy fire extinguisher, raised it above his head, and hurled it with all his remaining strength directly into the electrical control panel on the wall, while simultaneously smashing a pipe connected to an old steam valve.
HSSSSSSS!
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A blinding torrent of scalding high-pressure steam erupted from the broken pipe, filling the room in a thick, choking white fog. The lead mercenary screamed in agony as the superheated steam hit him, dropping his weapon and collapsing to the floor.
David leaped upward, grabbing the edge of the ventilation shaft and pulling himself inside just as a volley of blind gunfire shredded the metal frame beneath his boots.
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