Chapter 15 - The Trapdoor
Before Silas could raise his weapon to deliver the final, executing shot, the grand doors of the library burst open.
Anton stepped into the hallway, unleashing a barrage of automatic gunfire toward the assassin.
Silas cursed loudly, diving behind the heavy oak staircase as bullets ripped the expensive wood to splinters.
Anton rushed to Julian’s side, grabbing his boss by the collar and dragging him out of the line of fire.
"Boss, you are bleeding heavily, we need to extract immediately," Anton shouted over the deafening gunfire.
"Elena... the panic room," Julian choked out, clutching his profusely bleeding shoulder.
"Silas has thermal breaching charges, he will melt right through the titanium door!"
Anton swore loudly in Russian, pulling Julian up and wrapping the billionaire’s arm around his own neck.
They limped heavily down the hidden servant corridor, making their way to the subterranean levels of the estate.
When they reached the heavy vault door of the panic room, Julian frantically typed in the biometric override code.
The door hissed open, revealing a terrified Elena clutching a crying Isabella to her chest.
When Elena saw the blood soaking through Julian’s white shirt, she let out a piercing scream of pure terror.
"Julian! Oh my god, you are shot!" she cried, rushing forward to support his weight.
"We cannot stay here, Elena," Julian panted, his face deathly pale from the rapid blood loss.
"He has explosives. He will bury us alive in this room."
Julian pushed past her, walking toward the back wall of the heavily fortified bunker.
He pressed a hidden button beneath a steel shelf, causing a section of the floor to slide away, revealing a dark, damp tunnel.
It was an old prohibition-era smuggling tunnel that Julian had updated with modern reinforcements.
"It leads out to the vineyards, past the outer perimeter," Julian explained, his vision beginning to blur.
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Anton climbed down the ladder first, turning his flashlight on to illuminate the ancient stone walls.
Elena strapped Isabella to her chest in a baby carrier and helped lower her bleeding husband into the dark abyss.
