Chapter 12 - Flames in the Deep
Sparks cascaded over the plastic and metal of the ruined console, triggering a high-pitched alarm that shrieked through the subterranean room. Thick, oily smoke began swirling from the overhead vents, smelling of gasoline and burning insulation. Camille began to cough violently, her weakened body struggling against the toxic fumes. Vivienne tackled Eleanor to the ground, knocking the hot revolver from the matriarch's grip before another shot could be fired.
Through the glass door, Julian threw the flaming bottle against the ceiling pipeline. A violent explosion tore through the outer cellar corridor, blowing the observation window inward in a torrent of reinforced glass shards and fire. Thomas Vance was hurled backward into the darkness, swallowed by the collapsing masonry, while Julian, engulfed in smoke, crawled into the vault with his revolver raised. He fired wildly into the smoke, the bullets ricocheting off the steel walls with deafening cracks.
Arthur lunged forward with surprising agility, tackling Julian to the floor near the central console. The two men wrestled for the weapon, their groans lost beneath the shrieking emergency sirens and the roar of advancing flames. Vivienne dragged Camille toward a narrow maintenance tunnel built into the rear of the vault—an escape hatch Arthur had likely designed for himself. She shouted for Eleanor to follow, but when she looked back, Eleanor was standing over Arthur and Julian, holding a heavy steel fire extinguisher above her head with a look of terrifying resolution.
