Chapter 6 - Poison in the Deep
""Elena, get the children!"" Dante bellowed, instantly ripping off his tailored shirt and soaking it in the ice bucket from the bar.
Elena scrambled toward the bedroom, coughing as the faint scent of bitter almonds reached her nostrils. The white fog was spreading fast, hugging the polished floors and rising like a spectral tide. It was a fast-acting neurotoxin, piped directly into the closed air-filtration system of the compound's most secure shelter.
In the bedroom, Lily was beginning to stir, coughing weakly. Ethan had already jumped out of bed, pulling his sweater over his nose and mouth.
""Ethan! Take this!"" Dante burst into the room, pressing the damp linen fabric over Ethan and Lily's faces. ""Elena, hold Lily. Breathe through the wet cloth! Move toward the secondary maintenance hatch behind the wardrobe!""
Dante moved with savage efficiency. He pulled open the massive mahogany wardrobe, kicked out the false back panel, and exposed an old stone shaft equipped with an iron ladder leading upward toward the wine cellars.
""Go! Climb!"" Dante ordered, lifting Ethan onto the first rung. ""Ethan, lead Elena up. Do not look back, son!""
Elena strapped Lily securely to her back using a silk bedsheet, tying the knots with frantic speed. Her lungs burned as small wisps of the gas bypassed the cloth. Lily whimpered against her shoulder, her small forehead burning with a sudden fever.
""What about you, Dante?"" Elena coughed, her eyes watering from the fumes.
""Someone overrode the manual ventilation controls from the utility hub down here,"" Dante said, drawing his backup weapon. ""If I don't vent the pressure valves, the explosive backdraft will collapse this entire tunnel behind you. Go!""
Without waiting for her argument, Dante shoved Elena toward the ladder and slammed the iron access hatch shut, locking it from the inside.
Elena choked back a scream. ""Dante!""
""Mom, we have to climb!"" Ethan shouted from three rungs above her, his young voice trembling with adult courage. ""Dad knows what he’s doing! We have to save Lily!""
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Elena gritted her teeth, tears streaming through the grime on her cheeks. She gripped the cold iron rungs and climbed into the pitch-black shaft, feeling the tremors of heavy machinery vibrating through the stone walls.
Beneath them, deep in the sealed chamber, the muffled sound of rapid gunfire erupted. Dante had found the saboteur. But seconds later, a violent explosion rocked the foundation, sending shockwaves up the shaft and snapping the bottom two rungs off the wall just beneath Elena’s feet.
