Chapter 11 - The Clockwork Trap
The red digital timer blinked violently against the matte-black surface of a military-grade thermite block attached directly to the main server column. Fifty-four seconds remained. If the incendiary charge ignited, the intense heat would melt the structural support pillars of the bunker, collapsing the entire east wing of the estate into an underground crater.
""Everyone inside the vault! Now!"" Nikolai roared.
Clara didn't hesitate, carrying Mia through the circular doorway into the tungsten-reinforced bunker. Nikolai lunged back to where Marco lay writhing on the floor, grabbing the traitor by the collar of his shirt and hauling him like a sack of grain toward the vault. He tossed Marco through the threshold, stepping inside after him.
""Twenty seconds!"" Clara shouted, pointing at the external console monitor.
Nikolai gripped the manual vault wheel, throwing his entire weight into the mechanism. The massive gears ground against each other, the multi-ton circular slab of steel swinging shut with agonizing slowness. Through the narrowing gap, Nikolai could see the flashing red digits of the bomb reaching single digits: 05... 04... 03...
The locking bolts engaged with a thunderous thud just as a blinding flash of white light erupted outside.
Even through six inches of solid tungsten, the concussive force of the explosion reverberated through the chamber like an earthquake. The floor buckled, lights inside the vault instantly died, and the sound of hundreds of tons of concrete and earth crashing down on the exterior ceiling roared like an avalanche. Mia screamed, clinging tightly to Clara in the absolute pitch-black.
Silence followed—heavy, suffocating, and terrifying.
Nikolai pulled an emergency tactical light from his vest, flicking it on. The sharp white beam illuminated the sealed interior. They were safe from the blast, but they were buried forty feet underground beneath an impenetrable wall of rubble. The air supply vents had automatically sealed to prevent smoke inhalation, leaving them with limited oxygen.
""Daddy..."" Mia whimpered, tears finally spilling down her cheeks as she looked at Nikolai through the beam of light.
Nikolai knelt down, pulling her into his arms, his rough, scarred hands gently cradling the back of her head. ""I've got you, Mia. You're safe.""
""Nikolai,"" Clara said, shining her own small penlight toward the corner. ""Look at Marco.""
May you like
Marco had crawled toward an emergency terminal built into the vault wall. His uninjured hand was hovering over a red lever encased in glass—the emergency purge valve that vented the vault’s internal atmosphere into the drainage system.
""If I'm dying down here..."" Marco grinned through blood-caked teeth, ""we're all going together.""
