Chapter 14 - The Breach
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Clare shoved the heavy bookshelf aside, exposing the reinforced steel door of the panic room. She punched the emergency code into the keypad with bloody, shaking fingers.
The heavy door hissed open. She pushed Maya inside, clutching Leo to her chest, and turned back to look down the hallway.
Gabriel was standing at the top of the grand staircase, an immovable force of nature, laying down a blistering wall of suppressive fire with his assault rifle. Sparks flew as bullets impacted the walls around him, tearing the luxurious mansion to shreds.
“Close the door, Clare!” Gabriel bellowed over the deafening roar of the gunfire, not looking back.
Clare hit the locking mechanism. The heavy steel door slid shut with a final, terrifying clank, sealing her and the children in a small, windowless concrete bunker.
The silence inside the panic room was almost worse than the gunfire outside. The thick walls muffled the war, reducing the explosions to dull, terrifying thuds that vibrated through the floor.
Clare set Leo in the emergency crib and pulled Maya onto her lap, rocking her back and forth. “We’re safe, sweetie. Gabriel is going to protect us.”
But as she spoke, the electronic lock on the panic room door suddenly beeped green.
Clare’s blood ran completely cold. The panic room was an offline system. It could only be opened from the inside, or by someone possessing the master override codes. The same codes that had bypassed the front gates.
The heavy steel door slowly groaned open.
Clare scrambled backward, grabbing the 9mm handgun Gabriel had given her, aiming it directly at the expanding crack of light.
A figure stepped into the doorway, backlit by the emergency lighting of the hallway. He wasn't wearing cartel tactical gear. He was wearing a rumpled polo shirt, his face bruised but twisted into a manic, triumphant smile.
It was Richard.
“Hello, Clare,” Richard sneered, stepping into the bunker, holding a heavy, black revolver. Behind him stood two massive, heavily armed cartel soldiers, their weapons raised.
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“Richard?” Clare gasped, her mind reeling in sheer horror.
“I told you I’d find you,” Richard laughed bitterly. “Your new boyfriend’s security system was tough, but nothing I couldn't crack for the Navarros. Now, put the gun down, Clare. You’re coming home with me. And leave the bastard’s baby.”
