Chapter 4 - THE BATTLE FOR THE BASEMENT
"Argh!" Viktor roared, dropping his heavy flashlight as the sudden, intense strobing light blinded him in the pitch-black hallway. He stumbled backward, clutching his eyes with his left hand, his gun waving wildly in the air!
BANG!
A suppressed shot echoed through the narrow corridor, shattering a porcelain vase on a pedestal behind us!
"Run, Sophie!" I screamed, dropping to my feet, grabbing her hand, and sprinting toward the grand staircase!
"I'll kill you, you bitch!" Viktor snarled, coughing as he stumbled forward, blindly firing another shot into the darkness!
BANG!
The bullet wood-chipped the handrail right next to my head! Plaster dust rained down on us as we leaped down the steps three at a time, plunging into the dark main foyer below.
The ground floor was a labyrinth of dark corridors and shadowed archways. I knew this house better than anyone—I had spent nineteen months scrubbing every inch of its marble floors. I grabbed Sophie, lifted her into my arms, and bolted down the service hallway that led toward the industrial kitchen.
Behind us, Viktor's heavy footsteps thundered down the grand staircase.
"You can't hide in here, Emily!" he bellowed, his voice echoing off the high ceilings like a demon in the dark. "The whole house is locked down! There's nowhere to go!"
I sprinted through the swinging metal doors of the commercial kitchen, the smell of stainless steel cleaner and cold copper filling my nose. I backed up against the heavy preparation island in the center of the room, sliding down onto the cold floor and pulling Sophie beneath my arm.
"Shh," I whispered, pressing my hand gently over her mouth. "Be as quiet as a mouse, okay?"
Sophie nodded frantically, her small body trembling against mine, her eyes wide with terror.
Through the frosted glass panel of the kitchen door, I saw the bright beam of Viktor's flashlight sweeping across the hallway floor. His footsteps slowed down. He was moving deliberately, checking every room.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
From the far side of the ground floor, a sudden series of heavy, unsuppressed gunshots rattled the walls!
"Viktor!" Daniel’s voice boomed through the estate's internal PA system, echoing out of the ceiling speakers. "The security doors are breached! Drop your weapon or I swear to God I'll feed you to the dogs!"
Viktor cursed loudly outside the kitchen door. He turned away, his flashlight beam swinging toward the main hallway.
"Daniel!" Viktor screamed back. "You're too late! Alexander is already dead!"
Viktor turned and ran toward the basement access door at the end of the service corridor.
My heart nearly stopped. He was going to cut the power line to the medical wing and suffocate Alexander in his sleep!
"Stay here, Sophie," I whispered, setting her down behind the heavy metal trash bins beneath the kitchen counter. "Do not move until I come get you. Promise me!"
"Mommy, don't go!" she sobbed quietly.
"I have to help Alexander, sweetie. I'll be right back."
I grabbed a heavy, eighteen-inch cast-iron skillet from the pot rack hanging above the island. I held it with both hands, took a deep breath, and burst through the kitchen doors into the hallway!
Viktor was at the end of the hall, kicking open the heavy wooden door that led down to the basement.
"Viktor!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
He whirled around, his eyes wide with shock as I charged at him like a mother bear protecting her cub!
Before he could raise his pistol, I swung the cast-iron skillet with every ounce of strength in my body!
CLANG!
The heavy iron caught him square across the jaw!
Viktor let out a wet grunt as teeth and blood sprayed onto the white wallpaper. He reeled backward, his gun flying out of his hand and clattering across the floorboards. But he didn't go down. He was a two-hundred-pound professional assassin, and my hit had only enraged him.
He lunged forward, his massive hands wrapping around my throat, slamming my back violently against the wall!
Air exploded from my lungs. Black spots danced before my eyes as his fingers dug into my windpipe, shutting off my air supply.
"You... stupid... little... girl," Viktor growled through his bleeding, broken mouth, squeezing harder.
I clawed at his face, my nails tearing into his skin, but he didn't budge. My lungs burned. The world began to fade into a dark, terrifying grey fog.
BOOM!
The heavy wooden door behind Viktor was blown off its hinges!
Daniel burst through the opening, his face covered in sweat and soot. Without hesitating for a single second, he raised his heavy caliber pistol and fired two shots point-blank into Viktor’s side!
THWIP! THWIP!
Viktor gasped, his grip loosening from my neck as he stumbled sideways, collapsing heavily onto the floor, clutching his bleeding ribs.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air, coughing violently as sweet, sweet oxygen rushed back into my lungs.
Daniel dropped down next to me, sliding his arm under my shoulder. "Emily! Are you alright? Where's the kid?"
"Kitchen..." I wheezed, pointing toward the doors. "She's... she's safe..."
"Marco! Get the girl!" Daniel yelled over his shoulder into his radio. He stood up, looking down at Viktor, who was lying in a pool of his own blood, breathing heavily on the floor.
Daniel kicked Viktor's fallen weapon away, then picked up his flashlight, shining it down onto the traitor's face.
"Who hired you, Viktor?" Daniel asked, his voice deathly quiet. "Was it Moretti?"
Viktor coughed up blood, a sick, cruel smile spreading across his face.
"It's... too late, Daniel," Viktor rasped, pointing a bloody finger down toward the basement stairs. "The secondary charge... was on a timer... under the medical room's power grid..."
A low, muffled explosion rumbled from deep beneath the house, shaking the floor beneath our feet.
CHAPTER 4 CONTINUED — THE FIRE BELOW
"No!" Daniel roared.
He leaped over Viktor’s body and sprinted down the narrow concrete stairs leading into the basement, taking them four at a time. I forced myself up off the floor, my throat raw and aching, and stumbled after him.
The basement was rapidly filling with thick, acrid black smoke.
The backup generator room was engulfed in flames, the orange glare casting terrifying, dancing shadows against the stone walls. Sparks flew from exposed, severed high-voltage cables, snapping like mini fireworks in the dark.
At the far end of the corridor, behind a heavy reinforced glass panel, was Alexander’s emergency medical room.
The digital monitors inside were flashing dark red alarms. The main oxygen filtration system had failed when the generator exploded. Smoke was beginning to seep through the ventilation ducts into the sterile room.
Inside, Dr. Vance was frantically trying to pump a manual respirator bag attached to Alexander's throat, while his assistant struggled to open the emergency pressure-sealed door from the inside.
"The seal is jammed!" Dr. Vance yelled through the intercom glass, his voice distorted by static. "The explosion warped the steel door frame! The electronic lock is dead, and the smoke is coming in! We have ten minutes of clean air left!"
Daniel threw his shoulder against the heavy door with a violent crash. "It's locked tight! The manual override lever on the outside is melted!"
"Use a crowbar!" I yelled, coughing as the thick smoke filled the hallway.
"The heat fused the deadbolts into the frame!" Daniel spat, kicking the steel door in frustration. "We need a blowtorch to cut through three-inch steel! We don't have time!"
I looked through the thick glass panel.
Alexander was lying motionless on the stainless-steel bed. His skin was turning a sickening shade of ash grey as the room's oxygen levels plummeted. Beside him, Dr. Vance was coughing violently, his strength fading as the black smoke thickened inside the sealed space.
My mind raced. I looked around the burning basement corridor.
To the left was the main maintenance locker where I kept my cleaning supplies.
"Daniel!" I shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the locker. "The hydraulic pressure jacks! In the garage maintenance kit!"
Daniel blinked, his eyes widening. "The car lifts?"
"The portable hydraulic rescue jacks Viktor used to lift the armored sedans!" I yelled, pulling open the metal supply cabinet and grabbing a heavy steel crowbar. "They run on manual hand pumps! They don't need electricity! They can generate five tons of lifting force!"
Daniel didn't waste a second. "Marco! Get down here with the two ten-ton jacks from garage bay three! NOW!"
Two minutes later, Marco and another guard came sliding down the smoke-filled stairs, dragging two heavy red hydraulic jacks.
Daniel and Marco wedged the heavy steel jaws of the jacks directly into the microscopic seam between the warped steel door frame and the wall.
"Pump!" Daniel screamed, grabbing the long iron handle. "Pump it!"
They slammed the handles up and down in frantic rhythm.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
The hydraulic pumps groaned under intense pressure. The metal frame of the door began to creak, the heavy steel groaning like a dying leviathan.
"Keep going!" I cheered, holding a wet towel over my face as the heat from the generator room grew unbearable. "It's moving!"
With a violent, shattering CRACK, the three-inch steel deadbolts sheared right off! The heavy door popped open three inches, releasing a cloud of trapped smoke and hot air!
Daniel kicked the door wide open!
Dr. Vance collapsed out into the hallway, coughing violently, dragging his assistant with him.
"Get Alexander!" Vance gasped, pointing back inside. "The ventilator... he's stopped breathing!"
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Daniel and Marco rushed into the room, unhooking the heavy monitoring equipment, lifting Alexander’s large frame off the bed, and carrying him up the stairs into the clear night air of the main floor.
I followed them, my chest burning, my knees weak, as the fire alarms across the estate finally blared into life.
