Chapter 26 - The Million-Dollar Cradle
The explosion tore through the outer corridor, sending a concussive shockwave through the open window frame that knocked us all to the floor.
Dust and pulverised concrete filled the air in a suffocating cloud, choking out the weak emergency lights.
I hit the floor on my side, curling my entire body around Noah to shield her tiny frame from the flying glass.
Miraculously, she didn't make a sound, tucked safely against the warmth of my chest beneath my heavy jacket.
Marcus was on his feet instantly, coughing through the dust as he swept his rifle across the blown-out window opening.
The outer hallway was a smoking crater of twisted rebar and scorched concrete, the air thick with the smell of sulfur.
"Is she...?" I began, my voice trembling as I slowly pushed myself up from the debris-littered floor.
"Eleanor is gone," Marcus answered grimly, his voice flat, devoid of emotion as he secured the shattered window frame.
"And Thomas?" Miller asked, reloading his sidearm while keeping his back pressed against the server rack.
"There's no body in the doorway," Marcus said, pointing his weapon down the smoking ruins of the hall. "He fell backward."
A sudden sound behind us made Marcus spin around with his rifle raised at head height.
Isabella was still chained to the table, but the blast had cracked the concrete footing holding the heavy steel leg in place.
With a desperate, animalistic grunt, she ripped the anchor free from the fractured floor, swinging the heavy chain like a flail.
The steel links struck Miller across the temple before he could react, sending him crashing into the server console.
Miller’s gun skattered across the floor, spinning straight toward Isabella’s boots.
"Marcus, look out!" I screamed as Isabella scooped the weapon up in her cuffed hands, thumbing the safety off in a blur.
Marcus lunged forward, grabbing Isabella’s wrists before she could bring the muzzle up toward my chest.
The gun discharged with a deafening crack, the bullet ricocheting wildly off the reinforced ceiling and smashing a fluorescent tube.
Marcus slammed Isabella against the steel conference table, twisting her arms until the weapon clattered harmlessly to the ground.
"You sick, pathetic coward!" Marcus roared, pinning her down by her throat while she thrashed like a wild animal.
"Kill me, Marcus!" Isabella hissed, blood dripping from her split lip onto the polished steel tabletop.
"It doesn't change anything!" she laughed maniacally, her eyes bulging with unhinged fury. "Thomas is already in the secondary control room!"
"What control room?" Marcus snarled, tightening his grip on her collar until her breath came in ragged gasps.
"The vault has a remote ventilation purge," Isabella choked out, a terrifying smile spreading across her bruised lips.
"In two minutes, this entire bunker is going to be flooded with industrial halon gas to protect the servers," she whispered.
Right on cue, a loud mechanical klaxon began blaring from the overhead vents, accompanied by the hiss of high-pressure lines.
"Halon will displace all the oxygen in this room within ninety seconds," Miller groaned, pushing himself up while clutching his bleeding head.
"The biometric terminal!" I shouted, looking at the main console glowing through the drifting dust.
"What did Eleanor say before the blast?" I yelled, grabbing Marcus's arm to pull him away from Isabella.
"The master override code is my sister's birthday," Marcus repeated, his eyes widening in sudden realization.
"Marcus, you don't have a sister," I said, my heart slamming against my ribs like a trapped bird. "You were an only child!"
Marcus froze, his gaze slowly shifting from the smoking corridor back toward Isabella pinned against the table.
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Isabella’s smug, triumphant smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sheer, paralyzing terror.
"No..." Isabella whispered, struggling frantically against the table. "Eleanor wouldn't..."
