Chapter 13 - Under Siege
“They’re not here to rescue her,” Marcus said, racking the slide of his tactical rifle as he watched the monitor. “Those aren’t private security uniforms. That’s an extraction team from a private military contractor. Their orders will be scorched earth—kill everyone in the facility, blow the fuel tanks, and call it an industrial catastrophe.”
Julian tore the server master core from its housing, tucking the heavy steel casing into a tactical pack. He grabbed a warm coat from the wall rack and wrapped it around Elena’s shoulders.
“Is there an exit they don’t know about?” Julian asked Marcus.
“The drainage culvert beneath the bio-waste sector,” Elena answered before Marcus could speak. She swung her legs off the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold tile. She wobbled, but Julian caught her, taking her weight against his side. “When I was mapping the ventilation during my first weeks of captivity, I heard running water beneath Sector D. It feeds into the old municipal canal three miles down the mountain.”
“Can you walk?” Julian asked, his eyes locked on hers with fierce tenderness.
“I can run if it means keeping our daughter alive,” Elena replied, taking Maya’s hand firmly in her own.
From the level above, a tremendous explosion shook the concrete walls, showering them with plaster dust. The lights flickered and died, replaced instantly by the eerie crimson glow of emergency battery lights. Automatic gunfire erupted through the stairwells.
“They’re in the elevator shafts!” Marcus shouted. “Move! I’ll seal the blast doors behind you!”
“Marcus, come with us!” Julian urged.
May you like
Marcus shook his head, a grim, determined smile appearing on his scarred face. “Someone has to manually hold the pressure seal from the control booth to keep the blast doors shut. If I leave, they’ll breach the corridor in thirty seconds. Get your family out, Sterling. Make sure my girls are safe when this is over.”
Before Julian could argue, Marcus shoved them into the Sector D maintenance corridor and slammed the steel security hatch, engaging the manual deadbolt from the outside.
